Obama: Kill Babies or I'll Hurt the Poor

It happens all the time in movies. The snarling bad guy is cornered by the good guys so he grabs some poor hapless victim, puts a gun to their head, and tells everyone to back off or he’ll hurt the poor hapless victim.

Well, believe it or not that’s what’s happening right now between President Obama and pro-lifers. And sorry, but Obama’s the snarling bad guy.

As we all probably know the Indiana legislature passed a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant. And thankfully, Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill.

That’s kind of a big deal because other states may gear up to do the same. Planned Parenthood doesn’t like that and sued Indiana of course but more importantly, they instructed their political arm, the Democratic Party, to fight this tooth and nail. Big Abortion has instructed the Party of Death to make an example of Indiana to ensure that no other states dare to defund Planned Parenthood.

And oh boy does the Party of Death take orders well. The Obama administration’s Department of Health and Human Services sent a letter to Indiana threatening to withhold billions in federal Medicaid funding for low-income people if the state doesn’t agree to fund Planned Parenthood.

Just think about that for a second. Let the horror sink in. Sometimes it takes a few seconds for it to really wash over you.

Got it? Yeah, the Obama administration is saying the federal government will hurt the poor unless Indiana agrees to fund the killing of babies.

Is Planned Parenthood entitled to taxpayer money? Think about it, the federal government if forcing a state to send taxpayer money to a private entity.

So when someone says to you that the Democrat Party is for helping the poor, make sure you correct them by explaining to them that the Democrat Party is about funding abortion first, even at the expense of the poor.

This is a huge fight with major implications. If Indiana buckles, don’t expect any states to attempt to defund Planned Parenthood anytime soon. But if Indiana stands up to the administration and wins, we might see some real pro-life victories in states throughout the country. Watch, pray, and call your legislators.

What a crock of sh*t. Mitch Daniels is an idiot. This law is a joke. Women NEED access to pap smears and all the other services.
I don’t believe in abortion but if it’s not legal then there will be back room illegal ones done. Women will die in unsanitary conditions. Research history… abortions in some, way, shape or form have existed since the dark ages. Are you Catholics going to adopt & raise all the unwanted children? You can’t even control your priests around the children in your churches.

Posted by Maureen on Monday, Jun 20, 2011 10:52 PM (EST):

Only prayer and fasting can defeat these evildoers.

Posted by Steven on Sunday, Jun 19, 2011 5:28 PM (EST):

@Michael Kocian: Michael, since when does quoting Barney Frank’s observation about immmoral/political inconsistencies on the part of self-proclaimed “prolife” pols who also proudly claim their “fiscally conservative” credentials mean I’ve put myself in alignment with the MA Congressman? Wouldn’t you say that to “align” onself with a politician means more than simply agreeing with him or her on a single, (albeit morally important issue like abortion) a bit of a stretch? There are lots of other issues where I disagree with Rep. Frank on, but his point was well-taken by myself and I’m sure a lot of other less-fiscally conservative prolifers who are sick and tired of the petty and conflicting nonsensical inconsistency he rightly criticized.
To back up my point, Michael, just look at SBA-List’s of “winning Candidates” to notice the overwhelming number of Republicans, who while properly proclaim their prolife credentials insofar as defunding Planned Parenthood and other abortion-specific legislation is concerned. Next, take a look at issues aside from abortion to find out the rest of their legislative priorities. It won’t take long to discover they aren’t as comprehensively prolife as they’d like to continually package themselves.
It’s just a shame that it takes a quote from Barney Frank to get the point across about the incredibly cheap underside of the fiscal conservatives’ ever so pious professions of their fealty to the prolife cause.
This cheap underside of what passes for the (ideologically hijacked) contemporary conservative political movement isn’t exactly a new development. I remember getting calls during the early and mid 90’s asking for my vote and donation of time or money for candidates who advertised themselves as prolife. (Seems like the callers or their bosses had the gall to presume I or other public opponents of abortion, would also go along with their hopes, schemes and desired legislative scams that would in effect deny to very same poor and frightened young women they wanted to successfully carry their pregnancies to term, the needed well-baby/mother nutritional programs, such as WIC, and early educational programs such as Head Start for their other children, not to mention day care programs/subsidies .... whatever.) What was the reason given to justify cutting these programs off to the very people who needed them the most, pregnant moms and their unborn babies ... the beancounter’s favorite buzzwords, “fiscal accountability.”
That’s right, gotta hold those young moms more “accountable.” Victor Hugo’s Inspector Javert would be smiling from ear-to-ear upon hearing such sanctimonious drivel used to “justify” such mental and moral duplicity on behalf of the-then “prolife movement”—which apparently seems to have become even cheaper yet in its overall outlook.
If you don’t like what I’ve said thus far; and what Barney Frank said years ago and the fact I had to use Frank’s quip to expose the shameful cheap underside of today’s prolife movement, Michael, maybe you should start asking yourself what YOUR alignment with these Javert-like fiscal cheapskates is doing for you and the movement to save the unborn.
On the other hand, if you’re comfortable with this bunch and others like it, maybe it wouldn’t hurt you to read Les Miserables. When you’ve polished that off, try Portia’s speech about mercy in Shylock.
Aside from the (most unfortunate) anti-semitic wording in this exchange betwen Portia and Shylock—it behooves today’s un-holy alliance of the GOP’s neo-“economic royalists” of our time and the “fiscal conservatives” like the House Leadership—to prove that they haven’t given up their old habits of extracting the every “pound of flesh” from poor so they can so as to reach their Holy Grail of contemporary Republicanism, a relatively (Personal)tax free society.
After reminding Shylock he must be “merciful,” he complains,
“On what compulsion must I? tell me that,” (as if we have to restate the obvious burdens these budget cuts place on the poor?) ... Portia saves her best and famous reply, “The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven. ... Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: ... It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”
http://www.enotes.com/shakespeare-quotes/quality-mercy-strain-d
Hypocrisy was aplenty, whilst mercy was in dire short supply on the night the GOP House passed HR Res.1. Indeed, it took the ever bold step to get their slivers of flesh from Planned Parenthood, knowing the Senate and President would stop it ... all the while using Pence’s Amendment to cover for their real intended Shylock moment when it came to voting to cut the much larger budgets for the Women, INFANTS and Children nutrition program and other food-related programs, even for schools and the elderly and a slew of other “govmint gits in the way” programs the ideologues now running the GOP have long set their eyes n’ darkened hearts to cutting.
Michael, I don’t think I’m so smart; not in the least. But at least the bulb I was given at birth was never so dimmed at any time in my life that when it came time to learn about politics, social policy and their overall moral ramifications (if voted and signed into law), I don’t think I could be fairly accused of demonstrating false pride by claiming an ability to discern a genuine prolife policy that doesn’t call for extracting any more pounds of flesh from the very poor mothers and their children that we should be doing everything we can in both the private AND public sectors to help them. If we can give enormous tax breaks,i.e., unfunded welfare mandates to the uber-wealthy, we can sure as hell take Portia up on her words of wisdom when it comes to helping the littlest as well as the fiscally “least among us.” Do you think we’re that poor that you’d rather give Shylock the benefit of the doubt? I sure as heck pray you don’t.

Posted by Michael Kocian on Sunday, Jun 19, 2011 7:30 AM (EST):

Steven, if only you were as smart as you think you are, you would not have supported your “argument” with prejudice and those whom you view as “free” but who are slaves to the most vile dehumanizing behaviors possible.

Why you align yourself with the grossly immoral (eg. Barney Frank) is anyone’s guess. But, logically and rationally for a change, do you really have anything to stand on… substantial that is, as the illogical and irrational atheistic ramblings never have worked. Rational, logical thinkers see this easily. Why does it escape you? We’re waiting.

Posted by Michael Kocian on Sunday, Jun 19, 2011 7:24 AM (EST):

to mary j brady,

It’s a bit overdone to say stopping federal funding to Planned Parenthood is society “shutting them down.” In society, when an otherwise helpful person does something immoral like murder, is the person not still to be held accountable?

Think for a minute, would you make house payments for a drug addict, knowing that you’re funding his/her ability to do illicit drugs by taking a financial burden away elsewhere? Please think for a while, and use the gift of mind God gave you.

...and yes, Planned Parenthood killing thousands of innocent children (which rational people know is nothing short of murder, is it?). Do you really want to make it financially easier and more profitable for them to kill innocent children? The rational response is NO. What is yours?

Posted by Steven on Saturday, Jun 18, 2011 9:51 PM (EST):

@Dee: My apologies for not noticing your superb post above. Guess I was just overwhelmed that “anonymous” was so considerate to take time out of his/her busy schedule to offer such sagacious (albeit unsolicited) advice. After I was able to catch my breath, reply to “anonymous” and review over this blog/commentary section again, I realized how blinded I was by “anonymous’” snide advice thus causing me to miss reading your far more open-minded view about what is and isn’t really prolife in today’s unnecessarily harsher political scene and market place of ideas.
Maybe I’m just dreaming, but wouldn’t it be a joy to watch on CSPAN one night for a congressman or woman who’s willing to charge on the House floor all those supposedly ever openly devout “Bible Christians” from the Sunbelt/Bible Belt(s) with gross hypocrisy if they dared to proclaim how “prolife” they are after they’ve taken chain saws to the WIC and other programs set up decades ago to provide nutritional assistance to young moms and families living under the poverty line through no fault of their own. I’d especially like to watch this truly prolife politician nail any congressman who buys into the notion that all members of a family receiving food stamps should be cut off of this program (and presumably other related programs)if one member, perhaps a brother or nephew, happens to be a union member and his shop goes on strike. Let them explain how “prolife” that is, especially if there’s a pregnant woman living in the same household. And on and on it goes, doesn’t it. Ohhh, how could I mangle the Honorable Ted Poe’s (R-TX) best known finishing line for speeches.
Onward cheapskate “christian” pols, ever marching off to budget cutting sessions where the poor will first feel the cold steel of the accountant’s guillotines on their badly needed food, fuel and housing assistance programs that often make the difference in how so many young scared women face the decisions on whether or not to carry their babies to term.
It was Barney Frank who quipped (and wisely) years back about how loudly the so-called prolifers say they’re for the babies before their born, but also work hard to abandon them legislatively after they’re born. See, all of a sudden they become a “burden to the taxpayers,” as if unfunded wars, huge permanent tax cuts for the wealthy can somehow all be justified. Maybe they can, Dee: on Satan’s Altar of Political Expedience and Outright Shameless Wealth Redistribution from the 90 of the population to our new landed gentry.
Yes, it’s high time to put these budgetary skinflints on the spot and really examine them for what they are: moral frauds. Have any kids to send off to Summer Camp folks…you might want to pass this one up. You might have a difficult time explaining why it’d be better to send a kid to this than the usual summertime VBS: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/06/15/246341/tea-party-summer-camp/

Posted by Dee on Saturday, Jun 18, 2011 1:40 PM (EST):

“In the end, the claim that just social structures would make works of charity superfluous masks a materialist conception of man: the mistaken notion that man can live “by bread alone” (Mt 4,4 cf. Dt 8,3) — a conviction that demeans man and ultimately disregards all that is specifically human.” Deus caritas est 28.b

Posted by Bill McIntosh on Saturday, Jun 18, 2011 7:23 AM (EST):

Great article Matthew. This is a big fight worth the price.

Posted by Sam N. Sansalone on Thursday, Jun 16, 2011 6:02 PM (EST):

Looking at this from outside of the US, it is remarkable for me to watch a government, the US government, not only ‘conduct’ large-scale destruction of human life inside their own citizenry, violating the moral consciences of a huge proportion of their own country’s population… but then even having the gall to tell those same horrified people that *they* have to help pay for said destruction of human life inside their own citizenry. Talk about adding insult to injury. My goodness, this is phenomenally horrific.

Posted by Steven on Thursday, Jun 16, 2011 1:46 PM (EST):

Regardless of how I make a living, why should I tell you if you hide under “anonymous”? If it makes you feel any better, (though I think you were aiming to actually feel “bigger,” I’m going to be at my work station pretty shortly, though I won’t reveal it to you.

Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, Jun 16, 2011 1:18 PM (EST):

Dear Steven,

Get a job.

Cheers,

Anonymous

Posted by Dee on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 7:45 PM (EST):

1 John 4:20 “For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” I would say this biblical logic applies especially well to pro-life issues. Those who claim to be concerned about the unborn human beings they cannot see while ignoring the suffering of human beings that they can see are not pro-life; they are simply anti-abortion. Those who allow the possibility of the abortion of a child not yet conceived to block providing desperately needed help to those people God has already placed among us use twisted reasoning at best. At worst, they can conveniently excuse their lack of support for those who need their help by giving priority to those (the unborn) they cannot see and even to those who do not yet exist! Very convenient and well-used by those who covet the “pro-life” vote to advance other agendas. The pro-life movement as currently constituted provides a cheap (false) discharge of Christian duty that has the side benefit of allowing one to work against alleviating the suffering of those considered unworthy of our mercy or support.Catholics,in particular, should no better and our bishops should have the courage to lead. We all fall short of the glory of God, but this failure on the part of the US church leadership is particularly harmful to the body of Christ. I am praying for them to find the courage to embrace and promote the powerful and comprehensive vision of the human person that underlies the Church’s opposition to abortion.

Posted by Steven on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 4:37 PM (EST):

@Teddy: Obama doesn’t plan on poisoning the water supply. The GOP and its budgeteers are doing their best to make sure that happens with their cuts to the EPA’S and and other agencies responsible for monitoring water safety standards. But I know that’s not your real point.
NOr does Obama plan on punishing the living sick. If Paul Ryan and the GOP get their way, tomorrow’s elderly population will have to be very well off or face the likelihood of shorter lifespans no thanks to what this nonsensical and lower than bargain-basement voucher/“premium supplement” idea they’ve come up with to replace Medicare. Good lucking finding a decent carrier with the chump-change program the GOP has in mind, even though you’ve been paying for real Medicare for all your working years. BTW, it’s not going broke. It’s all part of their latest scare’em to death new bogeyman scam. They’ll trot out those ever so prestigious “conservative” think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute with all their slickly prepared talking points and white papers to give themselves cover. Problem is, this scare ‘em tactic doesn’t have a good track record for them. A decade ago Cato was telling people Medicare would be gone, broke, kaput, by 2010. LOL. They’re trying the same schtick with Social Security, and that’s in very good shape till 2030 at least.
This Daniels/Obama “hostage-taking” matter was started by Mitch Daniels to begin with. I don’t want to see Planned Parenthood get another dime anymore than you do. I also find it very incongruous that the loudest voices on Hill for cutting Planned Parenthood’s $300B didn’t even bother saying “boo” about the gutting of the Women, Infants and Children program to the amount of $700 when the GOP passed HR Res. 1 back in February. What do these ever so proudly-we-(dare-to)-call-ourselves-“prolife”-pols have against Women—Infants—&—Children?
Maybe they’re just to poor to bother helping or kowtowing to unlike all their wealthy “constituents” on K and Wall Streets.
It’s amazing to watch the prolife crowd get its pockets cleaned and hearts n’ souls reamed election cycle after election cycle because all the prolife lobbies and organizations have to do is say the ever magic words, “He/She is ‘prolife’” and they’ll fall on their hands n’ knees for the pol; notwithstanding the fact that the same pol might be also be toting a record of supporting x number of unnecessary and illegals wars, cutting the bejeezus out of programs like WIC, clapping to the sound of pols calling for the privatization of almost everything under the sun (like Chris Christie’s crony-capitalism sweetheart deal he’s trying to pull in order to privatize NJ’s public school system) and so forth.
By the time these tools of the (purportedly) “prolife” oligarchs who stand to make boodles and boodles in tax savings for themselves at everybody else’s expense, including the vast number of most prolife voters in the middle class ... most prolifers won’t have nearly as much to donate to their favorite prolife campaign. They’ll be barely keeping their heads above water all the while the oligarchs who’ve taken them for a ride once again (after so many other joy rides) only the cost of letting these people get away with it again will be much higher. Much higher and still, only a relatively handful of people will truly benefit. The wealthy, very wealthy and uber wealthy.
In the meantime, more kids in poorer, working class and single-parent homes will go without benefitting from the same good quality food God intended for all his children, especially his littlest ones, to enjoy.
Boy, that’s some “prolife agenda.” You betcha.

Posted by Teddy on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 2:17 PM (EST):

Fr. Larry Richards says in his book BE A MAN to a student that said to him “I make a mistake, I got my girlfriend pregnant.”. Fr. replied, “A baby is not a mistake, a baby is what happens when you have sex.”

IMO….The only “mistake” are when two that act irresponsibly, sexually, and more like animals in heat without thinking about their consquences of going along with what “Feels good’‘.

Posted by Teddy on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 2:11 PM (EST):

Ok, either continue to kill babies, or we will punish the living sick? WOW! Why doesn’t Obama just posion their water supply and rid the entire state of indiana?

I just do not get how immoral America has become. The government and poeple in general love to stifle and reject others that have moral code and a respect for life.

This goes to show you that abortion, indeed, would be acceptable under Obama care. It’s bad enough we pay taxes for have soldiers kill poeple overseas, now we are a threat of paying for having babies ripped out of the womb.

God HELP America.

Posted by John Splitwood on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 8:26 AM (EST):

to Gary: The population of the world is continuing to grow, but not among US citizens. Your suggestion of somehow controlling world population growth brings to mind the writings of Paul Erlich and John Holdren (Obama’s current science Czar) and of course NSSM200.
Quote: “Perhaps those agencies, combined with UNEP and the United Nations population agencies, might eventually be developed into a Planetary Regime—sort of an international superagency for population, resources, and environment. Such a comprehensive Planetary Regime could control the development, administration, conservation, and distribution of all natural resources, renewable or nonrenewable, at least insofar as international implications exist. Thus the Regime could have the power to control pollution not only in the atmosphere and oceans, but also in such freshwater bodies as rivers and lakes that cross international boundaries or that discharge into the oceans. The Regime might also be a logical central agency for regulating all international trade, perhaps including assistance from DCs to LDCs, and including all food on the international market.
The Planetary Regime might be given responsibility for determining the optimum population for the world and for each region and for arbitrating various countries’ shares within their regional limits. Control of population size might remain the responsibility of each government, but the Regime would have some power to enforce the agreed limits.
If this could be accomplished, security might be provided by an armed international organization, a global analogue of a police force. Many people have recognized this as a goal, but the way to reach it remains obscure in a world where factionalism seems, if anything, to be increasing. The first step necessarily involves partial surrender of sovereignty to an international organization”.
This is (literally) old school New World Order claptrap. Here is another quote from Holdren: “Indeed, it has been concluded that compulsory population-control laws, even including laws requiring compulsory abortion, could be sustained under the existing Constitution if the population crisis became sufficiently severe to endanger the society”. Again: “A program of sterilizing women after their second or third child, despite the relatively greater difficulty of the operation than vasectomy, might be easier to implement than trying to sterilize men”. Again: “The development of a long-term sterilizing capsule that could be implanted under the skin and removed when pregnancy is desired opens additional possibilities for coercive fertility control. The capsule could be implanted at puberty and might be removable, with official permission, for a limited number of births”. Again: “The first task is population control at home. How do we go about it? Many of my colleagues feel that some sort of compulsory birth regulation would be necessary to achieve such control. One plan often mentioned involves the addition of temporary sterilants to water supplies or staple food. Doses of the antidote would be carefully rationed by the government to produce the desired population size”.
Is this the kind of world you want to live in?

Posted by John Splitwood on Wednesday, Jun 15, 2011 8:01 AM (EST):

The argument that a child is not truly alive until after birth or until it is off of life support (in the case of premature babies)is a clear example of early liberal indoctrination…a policy our government adopted over 40 years ago. Again…in the US this policy of population reduction through abortion and birth control has been “successful” and is no longer necessary as our birth rate (for citizens) is at or below replacement level. For a person to deny the life of an unborn child (one of our most basic instincts) is a denial of their own life…a denial of responsibility, morality, self respect, duty and even love. A person who denies the life of an unborn child is, at heart, little more than an animal living only for sexual gratification.

Posted by Wayne on Monday, Jun 13, 2011 6:28 PM (EST):

Gary,
Have you ever been out of the city. There are many parts of the U.S. where kids have to travel over 20 miles just to get to the nearest school or 120 miles to the nearest Walmart. I think we are a far cry from OVER population.

Posted by Wayne on Monday, Jun 13, 2011 6:19 PM (EST):

I am not sure why we are worried about free birth control on a Catholic website anyway. Last I checked, we as Catholics, are not suppose to be using it anyway.

Posted by Steven on Monday, Jun 13, 2011 6:18 PM (EST):

Gary, did you learn math and social science from somebody with the heart of another Robert “Slide Rule” and “Body Count” McNamara? There’s more to understanding life than going by the numbers and strict observation of a life living outside the womb. Ever hear of sonograms? People running abortion mills are scared to death of ‘em, if you’ll pardon the reverse pun.

Posted by Gary on Monday, Jun 13, 2011 4:53 PM (EST):

I belive that it is not a life until, it is born and able to live, without the need of it’s mother’s body,or the help from life support. Having babies now days is not done out of love, it’s done mostly for money. These women that have 4 or more babies/children, only want a free ride through life, either through walfare or trapping a man that is stupid enough to use his tool without protection. Bringing babies at the rate they are being born is killing all of the planet, we are useing up the world resorces faster than they can reproduce, and more babies, means more resorces to use, the babies grow up, and need cars, homes, food, and so on. I feel bad for babies born now, because the world is going to be even worse by the time they grow up. The world population is already at or around 6.3 billion and “GROWING” and there is only 1 planet, reproducing at the same rate it has been for billions of years. It is my opinion that,, the only way to save this planet is stop the population, or either get rid of a bunch of people that is allready here. Just think about it,,,1 world,,, billions of people,,it’s like 1 Dad and 10 kids and growing,,,sooner or later he won’t be able to support them. Don’t be fooled by someone that says,, the population is at a stable rate, because people are dieing at the same rate as the babies being born, if this were true, then how did the population reach over 6 billion?

Posted by John Splitwood on Monday, Jun 13, 2011 12:02 AM (EST):

to Rose: The government has supported abortion and birth control for over 40 years under both Republicans and Democrats as a means for reducing the population…probably because they realized early on that certain strategic resources were limited. More people-fewer resources. Today, that means oil. The two, population and energy are inextricably linked and is very well illustrated in a graph produced by Chris Martenson (The Crash Course) which shows that as western populations exploited oil more efficiently than our numbers rose proportionately. The government has fought overtly and covertly to reduce populations here and abroad with programs such as NSSM200 and by using organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Please read the “Rockefeller Commission Report(to Congress)of 1972: On Population Growth and the American Future”. This was produced after 2 years of study, one year prior to RoevWade. It is in my opinion (along with NSSM200)the defining reason abortion, as a matter of policy, became accepted by our government. The concept that abortion is a matter of “rights” for women was and remains a smokescreen for population reduction.

Posted by John Splitwood on Sunday, Jun 12, 2011 7:02 PM (EST):

Legislation for abortion is not about a woman’s choice or a man’s responsibility although it has been marketed that way. It is about a policy of long term government sponsored population reduction for the sole purpose of resource acquisition and rationing. In other words, from a political viewpoint, abortion has never been primarily about helping women although it may incidentally help some women and it may hurt others, it most definitely removes an unwanted “consumer”. Since 1973, 53 million consumers and their potential offspring have been “legally” removed while the births of countless others have been prevented by a public policy (beginning in grade school) of indoctrination and the promotion of chemicals and devices for birth control. This has been a most successful policy. “No country has reduced its population growth without resorting to abortion”. (NSSM200). Today, the birthrate of U.S. citizens is at or below replacement level and except for immigration, legal and otherwise, our (graying) population has been stabilized for us through liberal policies which are no longer necessary. Politicians who argue that abortion is a triumph for Women’s Rights are either outright liars or misinformed to the true intent of Roe v Wade.(1973). To those who wish to know the reason for legalized abortion I recommend you research the Rockefeller Commission Report (to Congress) of 1972, “On Population Growth and the American Future”. Within that report it specifically stated that America’s population was already too large and needed to be reduced by enacting laws for abortion and by including sex and population education within the curriculum of public school children. It also recommended, “That federal, state, and local governments make funds available to support abortion services in states with liberalized statutes. That abortion be specifically included in comprehensive health insurance benefits, both public and private.” In 1976, the Hyde Act was introduced to prevent federal funds from being used for abortion except in extreme cases, however, federal and state funding frees up other money for abortions. Finally, here is a statement from 1980 from the State department’s Office of Population Affairs, which clearly indicates our government’s abortion policy: There is a single theme behind all our work - we must reduce population levels. Either they [governments] do it our way, through nice clean methods or they will get the kind of mess that we have in El Salvador, or in Iran, or in Beirut. Population is a political problem. Once population is out of control it requires authoritarian government, even fascism, to reduce it. The professionals aren’t interested in lowering population for humanitarian reasons. That sounds nice. We look at resources and environmental constraints. We look at our strategic needs, and we say that this country must lower its population - or else we will have trouble”. Defund Planned Parenthood.

Posted by Steven on Saturday, Jun 11, 2011 6:38 PM (EST):

@Sue: Several things about the Tea Party. It’s a creation of retired Republican operatives like former Congressman Dick Armey, and especially the Koch brothers, David and Charles, owners of Koch Industries. There’s nothing new about third parties in this country. Unfortunately for them, they tend to become like the proverbial morning glories that are gone by dusk.
Armey and the Kochs and others involved with the formation of the Tea Party were a step ahead by forming the TP out of the GOP, all the while making appear on the surface look like a “grassroots” conservative movement comprised of people who would otherwise have stuck with the GOP but being tired of the Rep. Party establishment’s set ways of doing things, they would so-to-speak, strike out on their own. All the while, it was sending out confusing messages and appearing to eschew the “normal” ways of doing things.
I have to hand it to them, they seemed to have had a whole nation bamboozled into buying into their ever-so-innocent, albeit somewhat charming political clumsiness that even people in the mainstream media were willing to give them a pass on because, well, they’re inexperienced. Alot of TP members are; which is not to say anything negative about them.
On the surface, it’s only fair to say, “yes, they’ve done a service in getting and keeping people excited.” But isn’t it also fair to ask “How come this third party manage to become so well-endowed within such a relatively short period of time?” and “Who’s really behind it,” and most importantly “Why?”
It was a perfect ploy for the GOP to line up with the TP last year and get whomever won with backing from the TP to either run directly as a Republican or if he/she won, a promise to caucus and vote with the GOP. BINGO, the seeds of a huge majority were planted and right under the Democrats’ noses. They were caught unawares, their once eager supporters of Obama pouted and we all know from experience, sulking can often lead to worse circumstances ahead.
The TP is in essence, a Republican “farm system.” Sorry to put it in a way that you might find offensive, but I’d say the same to the Move On crowd as well. They perform pretty much the same kind of “reservivist” function for the Dems as the TP did for the GOP.
What I find especially frightening is the TP’s insistence on not raising the debt ceiling come August 2nd. There will be a huge uproar if the ceiling is not raised then because the nation will go into default and a whole host of woeful consequences will hit the Middle Class with a body blow much harder than the horribly (but wholly preventable) crash two years ago. You don’t have to believe me; but take a look at this ABC story: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/casey-anthony-trial-court-murder-alleged-daughter-parents-13816768&tab=9482931&section=4765066
If you collece SS, SSDI, rely on Medicare, or you live in a neighborhood with many senior citizens and you have a small grocery store or run any kind of business, you may be in for some very tough sledding for a while, especially if this drags out for a while. (Lots of very big and strong egos at work, here, too!) Are you well off? Get ready for a rapid tax increase. If you’re a Senior Citizen and you’re paying a mortgage, I hope you have a fixed one. Even then, there’s no sure sign that fixed-rate mortgages will avoid the inevitable rise in interest rates due to the severity of this kind of previously unthinkable situation.
It’s easy to shout, raise clenched fists and say “Hell No!” to higher debts and yes to smaller government. It’s not so easy to live without so many of the things government provides for us that we take so much for granted unless you want to take another huge risk in privatizing the daylights out of government, sincerely, but mistakenly, believing it’ll save money in the long run. But Sue, I’m sure you’ve heard old (but true) sayings about “getting the government you’re willing to pay for” and “pay cheap, get cheap.”
Public service and good dedicated public servants, be they social safety nets for our elderly, disabled, poor, disabled Veterans, fire and police protection, education, (there’s a heck of a “choice,” more money for pubic schools or signing contracts with privat prison operators), public libraries, infrastructure maintenance, food inspection, job safety inspection, consumer fraud protection and on and on ... This is NOT what the GOP’s hidden backers, or it’s more public face, Armey, and the Kochs want the public to see what’s really pushing the Tea Party. I doubt very much if they even want most TP rank and file members to know what’s really going on.
Ask yourself: why have the most powerful oligarchs and their reliable political DC operatives paid for, back and even tolerate an organization that calls itself a populist movement, when both American and European political histories have clearly shown that the wealthy and powerful oligarchs and aristocracies have long held populist movements to be an out and outright anathema to them? Prussia’s Bismarck quickly (but wisely) safeguarded the Prussian aristocracy by creating Germany’s safetynet programs to help the middle class grow so it could provide the German royal families a buffer from the increasingly restless and radicalizing poorer working class folk who were being whipped up by the Communists. He practically saved the new German (Hohenzollern) Second Reich after he saw what happened during the Revolutions of 1848.
Today’s oligarchs are (just) clever enough to create the Tea Party to give what they consider the “masses” an outlet to protest against what they were mislead to believe about Obamacare, not thanks to an equally clever and manipulated hand-in-hand operation between the various Right wing organizations, the GOP, “shock jocks” like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, Fox News and what came to be known as the Tea Party, which I believe really stemmed out of both Armey’s direct efforts and Beck’s “9/12” schtick. It reminds me of what a guy said after Mike Dukakis lost his first gubernatorial term in the primary to the late Ed King, “We put all the hate groups together, and got the Duke out.” That’d be an exaggeration to say so about the TP, but there’s just something upside down about it all.
What does it say about a movement or party who’s “time has come” right about the same time the wealthy are pushing back with all they have in order to bag ever more tax bennies for themselves, and to hell with the rest of us? Doesn’t it bother you in the least that these same people who so proudly USE our national symbols in such a pagan manner to promote this sort of “spontaneous” conservative “had enough” type of “populist uprising” are out to line their pockets with inheritance tax goodies that are almost guaranteed to create a landed gentry in a country that’s never had an official aristocracy before?
Doesn’t it bother anybody who shops at WalMart to know Helen Walton, not known for her shyness when it came to providing Planned Parenthood any of her blessings as the world’s richest woman, owns with her children, a company that’ll go to any lengths possible to bar unions from ever getting a foothold in her family’s American-based stores, all the while Walmart just finished a beautiful deal for its South African employees who will have the rights to union representation and other things American WalMart workers could only dream of? And she and her family’s heirs hit the jackpot last December when Obama, in order to ensure that the “99ers” would be able to have a roof over their heads after their unemployment checks ran out in January.
Whereas Bismarck had the foresight to help the German middle class grow to help his country grow, our wealthy who seem to have a greater sense of (truly pseudo) entitlement…especially after they nearly bled the economy white in 08 ... our oligarchs and (genuinely)royalist-wannabes are creating extra parties to stir up unnecessary resentments, spread half-truths to instill outrageous fears (“death panels” whilst the private insurance sector’s been using them for years to deny people on pre-existing conditions and “mandatory taxpayer funding of abortions” all the while private health insurance companies have been charging prolifers for years via premium deductible portion payments right out of their paychecks)... and of course, spreading the blarney that Obama was imposing “socialism” on the country. Remember those “Keep your government out of my Medicare” signs, and the howls when Obama pulled some money out of Medicare? He only pulled out the (private) Medicare Advantage money and that was no bargain to anybody to begin with. Morever, Medicare is pretty much already privately operated. And Bush’s unfunded Rx Plan D was a complete giveaway to Big Pharma with the non-negotiation sweetie deal tucked in while the VA got the okay to negotiate with Big Pharma. I have no problems with seeing our Vets get every fair advantage they deserve coming to them; but not everybody who paid into Medicare served in the Armed Forces, even if the wanted to. Aren’t we all supposed to be treated equally in a nation historically and legally guided by the principle that we’re a nation of laws and not of men?
The very same people who have orchestrated and funded the Tea Party couldn’t give a hoot about the unborn or even the guiding principles most TP members who are God-fearing and honest-to-goodness local “salts of the earth” who sincerely don’t want to be bothered. But I wouldn’t trust the moneybags bankrolling so many people who’ve been bamboozled into campaigning and voting against their, their kids and their nation’s…which includes the unborn’s ... best overall interests at heart.
When I heard so many wealthy House Members, a lot of ‘em backed by the TP, last Feb. repeating the same old line of “vote for these budget cuts to save your kids’ future(s)” ... my stomach sank because many of them were more or less ordered by the Leadership to vote as a bloc, but they didn’t have to give those self-serving, not to mention blab-fest half-lie floor speeches to add insult to the voters’ intelligence. They voted for job creation, not ideological paybacks. Obama’s getting the heat for the job sag lately as he should somewhat. But does anybody remember what all those newbies, some TP, others regular full GOPers and some Blue Dog Dems promised and have little to show for, too?
It’s not enough for a pol to say he’s “prolife” and knocks on my door for my vote. Oh, he’ll show the teeth, crack the small-talk one-liners to break the tension and promise to deliver the sun, moon n’ stars. But he’d better be ready to show me what he’s really selling when I start asking questions beyond what his stands on abortion and other social issues are. Chances are, while he might be the most polite and honestly, but mistakenly sincere, conservative TP member, if I suspect for a moment he’s carrying water for people who want to turn me and my family and fellow citizens into economic vassals, he’ll suddenly discover the need for donning a sweater ... even in June or July.
“Economc vassals” might seem extreme, until you consider what Steve King, R-TP/Iowa, a Tea Party favorite, had to say about working people during a debate on an amendment pushed to exempt the Dept. of Homeland Security from having to go along with the Davis-Bacon Act (which ensures that construction workers be paid the prevailing wages of the area in which the project is built.) Like a lot of fiscally conservative politicians, with their eyes on the dollars and not on higher principles such as repect for both the letter and spirit of laws designed to protect against worker exploitation, King laid bare for all to see what really motivates guys like him whenever and however he can make some constituent” contractor can rake an easy buck off of somebody else’s labors at substandard wages. After giving the usual labor/market theories for justifying his opposition to Davis-Bacon, King offered this gem of wisdom: “Labor is a commodity just like corn or beans or oil or gold, and the value of it needs to be determined by the competition, supply and demand in the workplace.” http://politicalcorrection.org/mobile/blog/201106020015
I’d watch out for such a party that’s so concerned for you when it’s been set up they the very richest and most economically selfish group of louts this country has seen since the Great Crash of 29 and before that, the Robber Baron Days, and even before that, the merchants, bankers and state judiciary of Massachusetts just before Daniel Shays and his fellow farmers and Revolutionary War veterans of Hampshire County, MA cornered the circuit judge in Northampton who was ready to evict the farmers who couldn’t meet the extortinate demands of the fat cats of their day. It wasn’t just limited to Massachusetts, either.
See, that’s the real kind of Tea Party this country needs; not the make believe sham that’s been secretely created for the very opposite ends it purports itself to support.

Posted by Rose on Friday, Jun 10, 2011 10:33 PM (EST):

If “Planned parenthood is the means by which low income women obtain low cost birth control, health screenings and testing.” and taxes don’t support abortion, (which according to the left’s definition IS nothing more than failed, late ‘birth control’) why would the Administration allow the DHHS to write a letter “threatening to withhold billions in federal Medicaid funding for low-income people if the state doesn’t agree to fund Planned Parenthood”? Think about it. Is Planned Parenthood a gov’t agency? I thought they were an independent ‘charitable organization’? And since when does the gov’t take a side with one charitable agency over another? Since when does the Federal Gov’t have jurisdiction over state sovereignity? Is there a violation of the Constitution here? I thought the Feds assured us no taxes were used for abortion? There are MULTIPLE problems with this situation, on all levels. I really feel it’s time to pull back the covers from over our heads and start to take a good hard look at what is REALLY going in with our government. The writing is on the wall, take a good hard look.

Posted by Sue from Buffalo on Friday, Jun 10, 2011 9:56 PM (EST):

Steven, I’ve given up on reading most of these posts but I did read yours tonight. You really make me wonder about you. I mean, can you cut the garbage talk about the Tea Party? The rest of the stuff I don’t feel like getting into but I do wish you wouldn’t knock the Tea Party. The country is about ready to crash and we’re trying to stop it. I’m not part of the Tea Party but I support them.

Posted by Steven on Friday, Jun 10, 2011 7:15 PM (EST):

KC, I remember very well that debate and all the GOP yakkers with their talking points, and wrapping themselves shamelessly in Old Glory, (their new “bloody shirt” using the myth spun by the RNC that military personnel would not be paid during the threatened shut-down. Do I ever remember the cornpones all mouthing the same mantra. Your pay was not in any more danger than a Social Security recipient’s.
But wait’ll you see the big showdown in Dodge City (DC) when the debt ceiling debate really gets rolling. Then you’ll know who the real friends of the Armed Forces are; and they aren’t guys like Eric Cantor or Paul Ryan who’s gone on record lately as favoring default. It’ll pick and pit this nation apart like nothing else has since the Civil War. Even Speaker Boehner is trying hard to pull the Animal House “contolled” by his party and the rookie hacks, Tea Party pols.
What timing! Now there’s a rumor floating, which supposedly has stronger legs, that Boehner’s got some live skeletons in his closet and wouldn’t you know how well this floating revelation seems to be picing up more speed just as the debt ceiling debate is nearing. Could there be a GOP “leadership” coup in the works, just as there was for Gingrich when he was weak during the Clinton impeachment crisis, that Boehner was part of ironically enough? The mere fact this crap is floating about makes me want to root for Boehner’s survival all the more because at least he has his head on straight insofar as real political maturity and governance is concerned; not like his prissy-hissy acolytes who’d turn on him in a heartbeat if they thought they could rise to the top spot and do their thing; even if it means disgracing the nation’s reputation as one that pays its bills, not to mention avoiding the economic calamity that’d surely fall on us from the rest of the world’s economy, and rightly so, no thanks to that Uriah Heep-like beancounter from Wisconsin, Paul Ryan.
I’m a former miitary dependent and proud of my family’s service to the country in the Army and Air Force. I’m also grateful to you for your service too, KC. But, in all honesty, the real villains who became near theatrical in their pleas for military personnel and their families sickened me because they deliberately tried to use the most politically independent (as it should be) branch of the Federal government. My parents must’ve been gyrating in their graves.

Posted by KC on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 10:56 PM (EST):

Whether you are right or left, EVERYONE should be against funding Planned Parenthood. Why?

1) Planned Parenthood is a FOR PROFIT BUSINESS. Their services are not free. They have a sliding pay scale and they still profit from their services.

2) Planned Parenthood is TAX EXEMPT. This means they are also on a restricted tax status. Already, we have a business who make a pretty good income getting tax exempt status…and then what? They receive government funding on top of all this? Are you suspicious yet?

3) They receive GOVERNMENT FUNDING…and they provide abortions - something at least half the population are not okay with. I hear several people bringing up the Hyde Amendment. Let’s delve into that - The Hyde Amendment supposedly prevents taxpayer money from funding abortions, BUT it doesn’t say taxpayer money can’t be used to pay the salary of those trained to perform the abortion, that it won’t pay for the scalpel to scrape the child from the womb, that it won’t pay for the vacuum to suck out the remains, etc. Providing the tools to do the job of what technically equates to murder really bothers some people.

I don’t think I need to go any further. It’s ridiculous that this company is federally funded when the services they provide are free and they are also tax exempt. It makes no sense. You know what is REALLY life-threatening? Hunger. We have poor people who can’t afford to eat. So what if McDonald’s saw this need and said, “Hey government, give us federal funding and a tax exempt status and we will provide cheeseburgers on a sliding pay scale!”

McDonald’s would still profit from said cheeseburgers, they wouldn’t have to pay taxes on the sale of those cheeseburgers, and they would be getting federal funding…and where does that money go? Where does all this money go? PP has triple income having tax exempt status, regular profits, + government funding. I would be very interested, as well, to see how much they are donating to political campaigns. That could explain the insane way one side seems to fight for this business.

Lest we forget, this isn’t the first time Obama has taken a hostage to get his way. Remember the military? I’m part of the military. We almost didn’t get paid because he REFUSED to sign a bill that would continue military pay during a government shutdown. We didn’t shut down because the Republicans buckled to this because everyone knows the Republicans are the party that value the military. If the budget was not approved, Obama was prepared not to pay the military just to get his way. This is dirty politics at its worst. Can’t say I’ll miss this guy when he’s out of office.

Posted by Steven on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 3:49 PM (EST):

My apologies, I forgot to include the link. Must be the Swoon of June.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/09/240638/paul-ryan-calls-for-default/

If for some reason you don’t get this page immediately, copy n’ paste at the top of your operating system…you know where (LOL) ... and it should come up. I copied it from a document I was preparing for something else.

Posted by Steven on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 3:42 PM (EST):

Mitch Daniels made a calculated decision to defund PP, knowing full-well it would result in a political showdown. Call it “blackmail” ... whatever. That’s the art of politics. Better the art of politics, be it backroom or right out in the open, than the art of war. Better Daniels and Obama than Clauswitz or the buffoonish antics of Rick Perry, our leading contemporary nullifier and pro-secesh-prez wannabe. (Hint to Perry, make up your mind. Do you want to be the President of the United States, or the architect of yet another war between the states?
If anybody’s blackmailing anybody in this old struggle between Washington and the states, it’s Mitch Daniels. He’s a very smart guy who knows exactly what he’s up to. Let’s be clear, and admit both sides are playing the same game to obtain the most advantage for what they believe is right and they’re willing to use whatever levers of both federal and state levels of government to achieve their ends.
Daniels began the chess game with the sole intent of trying to draw Obama into the position of looking like he, the President, was the “Cheekago Heavy wit da broad shoulders” knowing full well that the President, no matter how much prolifers find his acts detestable because they were carried out on behalf of PP, was going to accept the challenge.
If you think about it, did Obama have a choice? He had to defend what we consider the indefensible in order to prevent not PP from going down, but the rest of his non-abortion-related programs and plans for saving and bolstering the safety net programs from piecemeal destruction from the GOP? The President is still smarting from the mistake he made by giving in on the Bush era tax cuts in order to save the 99ers trying to save their unemployment during the darkest days of winter. Not even the GOP expected him not to move on behalf of PP, given the flak he caught for agreeing to the Bush tax cut extensions that turned the term “wealth redistribution” on its head.
Why the umbrage? This stuff happens day by day, night by night in Washington and all our state capitols, county courthouses, city/town halls across the nation. That’s why we have a multi-layered, bicameral and small r form of republican-representative democracy, designed to allow competing forces to get legislation moved, if need be by creating friction, but not allowing too much of it lest things get out of control. Was’t the Senate created to be the cooling saucer? Let’s get real here.
Mitch Daniels, as I said in my (admittedly much more heated, yeah, I’ll grant that, LOL) post above, isn’t interested in ending Planned Parenthood’s Medicare payments anywhere near as much as he and his party are interested in scraping the entire social safetynet apparatus. If they have to pick it apart on a piecemeal basis as Daniels seems to be doing, they’ll use that method. Or, if they want to follow Paul Ryan’s ridiculous willingness to see the nation default on its debts in order to force changes (in plain english, major subtractions or outright dismantling) of the safety net, they might follow that path.
They’d better be careful because this is very dicey business. It could risk putting senior citizens, people receiving SSDI, SSI and insultingly enough, disabled Veterans at risk of not getting paid. Hmmm, how are they going to pay their mortgages? Giving these people the old “Hey, life doesn’t come with guarantees and where does it say in the Bible that I have to support you” line will surely set off a boomerang trip wire and deservedly so. See, these entitlements aren’t welfare: people paid into them, and they worked hard to qualify for them and in some cases, life dealt them such a blow that they cannot possibly obtain or hold down a job for any length of time.
Going after Planned Parenthood, which has little political capital to begin with (outside the more liberal states and DC) to get at Medicaid is the real blackmail. After all, when blackmail comes up for discussion, it should be fairly easy to discern who the initiator is or was. Apparently not here. Maybe more of us need to watch more “Law & Order,” whatever.
If any party’s guilty of playing “capital B” political Blackmail, it’s Paul Ryan’s (no thanks to his flip-flop on this, not to mention its Leadership’s mixed signals/threats and foot dragging on this) not to mention other individual Republican legislators willing to go along with this threat to deny raising the debt ceiling, risking shame to our national pride and reputation as a country that pays its debts. That’s only for starters. Let’s use our imagination to see how this threat if carried to its most illogical extreme could wreck havoc not only on our society/economy, but the world’s as well.
What do they care? Do they really care about the unborn? Or do they just care about ramming through a very unpopular and insultingly cheap-as-it-comes fraud of a “medicare” plan. Admittedly, this site I’m linking leans heavily to Port, but it has all the key players doing their own talking. If I were John Boehner and really wanted to stay on top, I’d be getting my hands on some loppers to do some serious cutting or else say goodbye to the Gavel. No captain can keep a ship afloat if he tolerates loose cannons on a vessel carrying too many other rogue elephants to begin with.

Posted by Jan on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 3:27 PM (EST):

@Jamie: Jamie, there ARE no unwanted children - right now there are many thousands of wonderful married couples who would LOVE to adopt ANY baby. Abortion not only kills a new baby, but really does do great harm to the mother and the father, maybe not right away, but eventually - and always. Wouldn’t it just be a lot easier to exercise restraint, patience, and true love, to wait till one is married before engaging in the beautiful act of co-creating that very wanted baby? I will pray for you that you come to know your true dignity as a child of God - loved and charished as a unique and lovable person that God Himself wanted and made.

Posted by Jamie on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 2:39 PM (EST):

This article is ridiculous! Planned Parenthood provides much more than just abortions! There are MILLIONS on teen and unwanted pregnancies each year with out Planned Parenthood there would be MUCH more! Furthermore, an unwanted child does a lot more damage to society than an abortion!

Posted by David B. on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 12:59 PM (EST):

Oh, great: a cut-and-paste troll.

Posted by Don Reichard on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 12:08 PM (EST):

Matt Archibald was right on the money that is out and out blackmail.

James Traylor - wake up from your dream and do something usefull like reading the constitution. Pay attention the supreme court even the liberal judges appointed by Clinton have indicated that Obamacare is against the constitution that guarantees the citizenry cannot be forced by the government to pay for services. That goes for funding baby death camps as well. Stick your head back in the sand and watch as America comes back from 40 years of debauchery exerted by the Democratic party and the union thugery. Your thinking has no foundation in logic, fact or law…if so then support you rhetoric statments.

Posted by Don Reichard on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 12:04 PM (EST):

Matt Archibald - wake up from your dream and do something usefull like reading the constitution. Pay attention the supreme court even the liberal judges appointed by Clinton have indicated that Obamacare is against the constitution that guarantees the citizenry cannot be forced by the government to pay for services. That goes for funding baby death camps as well. Stick your head back in the sand and watch as America comes back from 40 years of debauchery exerted by the Democratic party and the union thugery. Your thinking has no foundation in logic, fact or law…if so then support you rhetoric statments.

Posted by seeker4truth on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 2:21 AM (EST):

Steven it appears you have felt compeled to educate all of us uneducated conservative “right wing” catholics. Your approach and arguments are so predictable.
One of the biggest lies out there today, that you seem to have swallowed, is that Obama and the Democrates are for the poor or the little guy. Anyone who has studied in depth would know that the biggest supporters of Obama & the Dems in the last election were Unions, Banks & Wall Street; to name a few Goldman Sachs & JP Morgan gave 5 million alone, Morgan Stanley 2.5 million, Bank of America 2 million, Citigroup 3.4 million, AIG, the list goes on and on. Look who was bailed out and got a huge payback while our working families are losing jobs right and left and the economy is in the tank. Sorry but if you think the democrates in office are not rich and lining their pockets you are delusional.

Christians should especially realize that too much government is not the solution but the problem! God and our Lord Jesus Christ are not dictators, we are not forced to accept or obey or follow God. We are asked to give, but we are also given free will. God knew that we need to give from the heart and by our own free will, otherwise it’s meaningless, it is not giving. When we try to legislate such things it is not of God, but becomes a dictatorship. I do not support either political party that attempts such things. Less government is best and is what made our country great. Currently the Progressive Democrates are the ones who are trying to replace God with Government using social justice as their mantra while taking God & prayer out of our schools and society.
We do not have collective salvation but personal salvation given through Jesus Christ. Our rights are God given not granted to us by the government!

Posted by Joan of Snark on Thursday, Jun 9, 2011 12:39 AM (EST):

Sorry, but Indiana is correct and I pray they prevail. Funding Planned Parenthood is funding abortion with taxpayer money no matter how “few” murders they like to claim they provide. But the real bottom line here is that just like your mortgage or your Viagra, neither your abortion nor your birth control nor your lack of self-control is my problem and I do not want my tax dollars paying for any of it.

Posted by win on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 11:53 PM (EST):

Planned parenthood is useless in an age where medicaid and other low income patients can go to basically any physicians office and get birth control, physicals, and other testing.

Planned parenthood doesn’t help with pregnancies, in fact when a teen I know was pregnant and called them for help, the most they could offer was abortion, which she did not want.

She did get help, from friends, family, and more throughout her pregnancy, including the father of the child.

Posted by David B. on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 11:49 PM (EST):

I don’t understand why Obama’s supporters aren’t as forthright about his radical abortion stance as he is. He’s admitted in word and deed his total commitment to public funding of abortion, so what’s the debate about? Obama is blackmailing a state into absolute compliance with his culture of death policies. This fact alone should be disturbing to most of us. When will some Catholics wake up to the reality that Obama isn’t on the side of the unborn?

Posted by pjki on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 10:38 PM (EST):

A lot of Catholics supported Obama in 2008. I hope they’ve learned their lesson. It amazed me why more Americans did not understand the words “fundamental transformation of the United States of America.”

We are seeing how the Jewish people STILL support Obama even though he’s thrown Israel under the bus many times!

What is wrong with the thinking of some of the Catholics and Jewish that they are blinded to this man’s destructive agenda? What is the fascination with him? And why do so many give him a free pass? Are they that naive that they would rather support someone just because he’s charismatic and/or the first black in the Oval office, and give up America in the process? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

And THAT frustrates the heck out of me!

Posted by Steven on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 8:49 PM (EST):

Thank you very much Carrieann, but I have to give Matt the nod for picking the topic, which is very interesting, and complicated to report on. Although I disagree with him, at least he tried to make heads or tails out of it as much as anybody could, too. I’ve seen very few reporters/columnists or bloggers on either side zero in on this one as much. It’s a test case inasmuch as the labor situation in Wisconsin and an even wider “front” presented by Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich. But, could anything be as wide as New Jersey’s guv? LOL. Geeesh, if Art Buchwald and Herb Bloc could’ve lived long enough to have fun with that guy! Again, thank you very much.

Posted by carrieann on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 8:31 PM (EST):

Steven, thank you for your insights. I found your synopsis of the status quo more informative than the actual article.

Posted by Kathie on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 7:38 PM (EST):

The African-American birthrate has fallen below replacement level. So any government agency which funds either abortion or contraception is now assisting in the destruction of a social group. Surely this is illegal. Planned Parenthood promotes contraception on the government dime. Indiana should point out that government funding for Planned Parenthood amounts assisting in destroying the African-Americans and so is illegal and take the issue to court.
The African-Americans have been below replacement level since 2006.
Kathie

Posted by Steven on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 6:14 PM (EST):

All in a day’s work. I’m a dumb and faithless (and deemed pro-abortion) shouter. Forrest Gump’s “Momma” was right. Life is a box of chocolates. You open it up and you never know what you’re going to find. Same for the commentary section. Sometimes you find descriptions about yourself that don’t match who you are.
That’s okay. Let’s say I could be considered charitable by using Forrest Gump and giving more of you folks upset with my reply the opportunity to reword his saying about stupidity, a “head start.”
You might want to rethink writing “stupid is as stupid writes” when you think of what the GOP is really up to. It’s playing on the public’s annual summertime swoontime of apathy when it comes to politics and hoping the vast majority of voters won’t see how it’s playing a cat n’ mouse as well as cleverly designed divide and conquer game by using the wedge issue of abortion to get at Planned Parenthood ... when it’s primary target is Medicaid or any part of the Federal safety net.
It’s easy to play this game at first because it works on the emotions of taxpayers, in this case prolifers, to have them thinking they’re going to finally see the cutting off of public funding for abortions via PP in Indiana, all the while the folks cheering Gov. Daniels on for this, don’t realize he’s doing an end-run on other programs that are popular with everybody.
Notwithstanding what Paul Ryan and Fox News and the rest are saying about the medical part of the safety net, Medicare, Medicare and yes, Obamacare are popular with most voters. See how popular Ryan, the GOP and even Daniels will be if what they pull off the dismantling of all three, particularly the last, if their efforts result in the return of the “pre-existing conditions” clauses, and the private death panels that had already existed prior to the passage of Obamacare in March ‘10. Do you know of anybody in your local area, or have read a story about somebody in your community’s paper whose child could not receive a life-saving form of chemo, or operation because the private-for-profit insurance company decided to turn it down because they were afraid of stockholder push-back. (Never mind that the majority of the stock was owned by the bigshots who were and still are making far more money than most of the top-earning civil servants in Washington will ever see in their lifetimes, unless they write a book or sell out to the lobbying fraternity as former Indiana’s Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh when he just joined the US Chamber of Commerce.
Do you want a return to that? That’s the good old private sector at work for you. Many of you, like myself, hoped and prayed abortion wouldn’t be automatically covered by Obamacare. Guess what all you private sector insurance premium payers; many of you are already paying for abortions if you look at your employers’ health insurance choice booklets they pass out every year when it’s open enrollment time.
The private sector has played the prolife folks for suckers and now the GOP is jacking up this insidious practice even more by playing on your emotional and political fears, using “death panels,” false horror stories about “socialized health care” from abroad or in Canada, all the while it doesn’t want you to see what’s already been happening right before your noses for years. Good Heavens, the GOP establishment must be thinking if the truth got out to the more prolife voters that they’ve been gamed for years by the GOP itself, it’s pals on K-Street, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and so forth.
How long do you want to be their patsies, their suckers that no sooner than the polling stations are closed? (Hell, they won’t even need you for the parties, and certainly not want you for the post-mortems.)
Remember, the GOP is THE eternal country-club home and plantation of the WASPs and WASP wannabes. Don’t you think they have their share of abortion blood on their hands? Have the Bushes always been prolife, or as prolife as Geo. H.W., Jeb and Geo. W.? How ‘bout the Romneys? Yes, people change, and I changed. I used to be very prochoice when I was younger and (BTW, much dumber); but over the years of trying to find that “home” for prolifers, and realizing there is no perfect landing place, I’ve come to the conclusion that without a doubt, that the Democratic Party is by the real prolife party and far less the “party of death” than its detractors make it out to be.
I bought into all that and more, just like so many others, including some of our (truly) esteemed clerics.
But just because the top of the party has a horrible track record of supporting partial-birth abortion (why, we may never know) or why top party honchos are blind to the evils of the cannibalization that the use of embryonic stem-cells for research will “bring in terms of dynamic breakouts in cancer research”—does that mean that the whole entire membership of the party should be tar-brushed? Are all Republicans “guilty by association” for their support of W’s invasion of Iraq on specious grounds (to say the least)? Even to this day, Americans have long stopped blaming all Germans, even Germans and Austrians who belonged to the Nazi Party, although it was guilty of a whole host of crimes, of which the Holocaust was the single largest blot on its record insofar as how it treated non-combatants during the War it thrust Germany into. (Remember, our present Pope, Benedict, was not only drafted into working an AA battery, he was forcibly conscripted into Hitler Youth, which was subsequently Nazified, meaning all HY had to join the party. Oh, now somebody’s going to say he should’ve resisted. Easy enough tosay nowadays, especially since our Boy Scouts never faced that dilemna. But he did resist by deserting not only the Wehrmacht, but a company of hard-core Austrian Nazis. During the last months of the war, Germany was not only at war defending herself against the Allies, especially the Russians, she was at war with herself no thanks to the last reign of hell the SS put the average German groundpounder in the regular Army through, not to mention the civilian population, both of whom had had enough. “Alles Kaput!”
Years later when we were working up to invasion against Iraq, it was almost seen as treasonous to challenge the standard bull tossed out by Bush’s propaganda experts in the government and Fox News. The former even went to far to discredit a career Foreign Service Officer (Joe Wilson) and his CIA Operative wife, Valerie Plame because they were on to the pile of lies that led to the war, which led to so many countless deaths. Bad as Saddam was, it’s too bad that President G.W. Bush couldn’t have heeded the advice of another president, John Adams who warned “Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war.”
But they’re the party that’s “prolife,” and why? Because they’ve gotten away with saying so. Just saying so is all it takes; so it seems. Don’t believe me, well, look and think back on all the rhetoric that’s been served up to the American public. But if you want real results, to see which party, despite some (admittedly horrific) stands it’s taken, is the real “prolife party.” It’s not the GOP. Not by a long shot, and all its schmoozing of the Bible/Sunbelt pols, megachurches, the Catholic Church, the more conservative Catholic literary set, all that aside ... the record speaks for itself. On the whole, the Democrats have the better record in terms of keeping the number of abortions down.
I hate this over-hyped or expanded notion of the right of privacy that Harry Blackmun used (er, stretched) to make it possible to “justify” abortion rights. My God, a total right to privacy could just as easily be used to toss out every single wire tap used to bag mobsters as well, or preclude the government from even prosecuting conspiratorial actions to be taken against the government or society at large if these discussions took place in the ringleader’s bedroom or basement. That’s a stretch, but wasn’t Blackmun’s as well?
Still, in the meantime, why hasn’t this pillar of the case been able to be knocked out from under the pediment of Roe v. Wade and let the rest tumble down? Maybe there’s some reason. But an even bigger reason is that if a simple retired writer like myself with a paralegal education he used only for gaining skills in research for future political uses, “can figure this out,” why haven’t other people with far more legal acumen and certainly experience and stellar reputations? Maybe it’s because the decision, truly is, what many scholars have claimed it to be upon reading it through: settled: Period.
If this is so, why aren’t the prolifers raising their fists at the GOP for stringing them along, giving them one false hope after another that they’ve got some super lawyer (much like the German civilians “living” in cities the Allies were pounding them from the skies in early 45 awaiting Berlin’s promises of “miracle weapons” that’d stop the bombers?) Why aren’t they asking the GOP’s legal eagles as to why they wasted the eight years of W’s administration by not giving Roe a the legal version of a “frontal assault”? Better yet, perhaps they should ask them if they knew there was no realistic chance of overturning Roe in the Supreme Court, and more specifically … ”Why?” and why don’t these GOP/prolife lawyers come right out and tell the truth that their cause is lost?
M O N E Y. Abortion’s been a wonderful cash-cow for the religious Right and today’s conservative movement which is more interested in pushing their singular m.o. of winning at all costs, including the sacrifice of higher moral values, dedication to absolutes when it comes to sharing even difficult truths, or admitting that they don’t have a lock on the nation’s version of the Deposit of Truth (American Tradition; i.e. Declaration of Independence, J. Adams’ Constitution for Mass., the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, and later to be followed by Lincoln’s Cooper Union Address, his two inaugurals and the Gettysburg Address.)
The Republicans want to stretch this trench war out for one reason: It Pays, and damn well. All they have to do is say the magic words “pro-abortion Democrats” and link it with homosexuals and the threat of losing gun rights, ‘that old ideological trinity of demagoguery, ‘bortion, ‘gays n’ guns, with “Obamacare’s death panel” tossed in for “good measure.” In the meantime, they’re taking the money sent in by people they’ve frightened on this set of issues only to use these funds for what? Oh, could it be union busting? Fighting for more tax breaks for billionaires and making it easier for them to zip their billions overseas to safe havens “just in case” Obama is reelected and the Democrats take back the House and keep the Senate. (Oh, doesn’t that frighten them; as well it should.)
But do they care if the rank n’ file Catholic blue collar working man or woman who is strongly prolife, but also belongs to a union and worried that his or her job might be cashed in for some CEO’s opportunity to take advantage of a sweetheart deal in Shanghai? Guess who gets Shanghai’d? And guess where that job and money (through tax breaks that the GOP were more concerned about bagging) are going to: A nation that might, just might, ease up on its one-child only with forced abortions population control “programs.”
As one famous Democrat said years ago about the Republicans when they complained (and Dems and Independents applauded) for his “giving ‘em hell,” . . . “I never gave them hell. I only told the truth and it hurt like hell.” One can only imagine what fun he’d have with the whiny babies Obama’s going to face as they keep coming up with this childish line of “that’s a gotcha question” every time the media has child’s play in letting them demonstrate how “dumb” they are.
My question still remains; how much longer are the prolifers going to take to wake up and realize they’ve been taken for a nearly 40 year-long ride and it’s time to jump before the derailment occurs. No thanks to the GOP’s childish and inexcusable, not to mention immoral intransigence on the debt ceiling issue, we may all – hopefully not—find out soon enough. I just pray Obama doesn’t give in like he did last December. After all, who’s paying for that “unfunded mandate” of the continuation of the Bush era tax cuts. Not the GOP’s main concerns, who are anything but prolifers: It’s the bankstas and their other pals on Wall and K-Street(s) “respectively.” Hate to put it this crudely, but to the GOP, unborn babies don’t vote or make huge deposits; and all kids, especially the poor ones, whose parents they’re also working hard to keep from voting … hell, they really don’t count in the GOP’s worldview.
Faithfully yours, notwithstanding how dumb some of you might think my arguments, admittedly long, are. Somebody’s got to be the bearer of bad news. If it falls to me, it falls to me. I’d rather be doing other things, but if in the best interests of helping the prolife cause by stating the simple fact that one part of the cause might actually be lost in the courts, I could help people perhaps realize that their best means of reducing abortions lies in supporting the truly genuine prolife party, if that’s the route they want to take, the political, I’m glad to do so. Additionally, may I suggest that more efforts be put into prayer and supporting your local Birthright or other excellent organizations like it.
And in the meantime, tell the GOP to go where it’s been telling you to go the moment the polls are closed. Outta here, or lower.

Posted by JC on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 5:12 PM (EST):

Cutting off all federal funding to an organization that primarily serves the poor and then accusing the Obama administration of holding the poor hostage is backwards, or at least biased. I can understand a call for more restriction on the use of federal money but if you actually care about service to the poor you should at least acknowledge that cutting off ALL federal funding to the organization will itself restrict the access of young, poor women to services like STD screening and treatment, cancer screening and treatment, education and contraception. And most importantly, I have to ask why you wrote this article. Was it to stoke the emotions of people who already agree with you? If it was to engage in a serious dialogue with people who might not see things your way—if it was to try to convince others that they should consider your stance—you’re off to a bad start. The use of hyperbolic language like the ‘Party of Death’ and provocative implications (i.e. is Obama himself really telling anybody that they HAVE TO kill babies or he will purposefully harm poor people, as your headline implies?) is only going to make people who disagree with you but might otherwise take your editorial seriously click “Back” on their browser.

Posted by ED on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 1:51 AM (EST):

A very ‘on point’... and spiritually ‘mature’ comment Amy.

Congratulations…

Posted by mk on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 12:22 AM (EST):

Amy,

AMEN!!!

Posted by Amy on Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011 12:13 AM (EST):

It has been stated before, and I will state it again: Planned Parenthood may not technically be allowed to use the money from the government for abortion, but it doesn’t mean that they don’t use it for that purpose.

Basically, they have two accounts: the first account is for incoming government money that is specifically for everything but abortion. The second account is for everything PLUS abortion. The more money given to them by the government for the first account allows them to use more of the money in the second account for abortion, as they now have money for the other parts of the business. If they don’t have government money, they have to use all of the second account for abortion and everything else, meaning they have less for abortion.

In other words, it is a legal loophole that allows them to indirectly fund abortion by receiving government money.

In other words, yes, the money DOES go to abortion.

As for this fighting over which party is better, neither are. They are both for different aspects of the culture of death. Hopefully, someday, if enough good people work hard enough, that will change. Abortion kills innocent babies. The death penalty allows for the killing of the wrongly convicted (face it, our justice system is flawed because we’re human). Euthanasia kills innocent disabled and elderly. Unjust war kills soldiers for personal gain, as well as innocent bystanders (Afghanistan: justified. Iraq: unjust. Blessed Pope John Paul II even stated as much).

God isn’t right or left, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat. God just Is, and He wants us to love Him and one another. So, please get over this fighting about which party is better or worse, and start focusing on God and what He wants us to be doing. Prayer would be a great place to start.

Posted by Adam on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 9:43 PM (EST):

This is a horrible article. What has happened to the NCR that they would allow tripe like this to be published under their banner? I’m shocked. This article is lible, and completely lacking in facts. I for one am anti-abortion, I don’t like planned parenthood, and would rather not see them funded at all… BUT that does not mean I will blindly defend the complete lack of integrity demostrated in this article like so many here have. THE FACTS surrounding this issue are sadly missing in this article. As everyone already knows, it is illegal to use medicaid money to fund abortions, and that is NOT the issue at hand. The bill in question is denying FEDERAL funding to all other (non-abortion) services provided by planned parenthood (STD treatment, cancer screening, etc.) HOWEVER other clinics, surgical offices, and hospitals which provide abortions will still receive federal funding under medicaid for non-abortion services (STD treatment, cancer screening, etc). The bill is aimed solely at planned parenthood, and is specifically denying funding for services that OTHER clinics are recieving funding for. That makes this bill illegal under the laws governing medicaid and therefor is putting all medicaid funding at risk. It is Indiana who has passed a bill which is illegal, not Obama who will “hurt the poor”, the lawmakers in Indiana are to blame because of their…well… stupidity or ignorance (not sure which it is). There is no question from a legal perspective that this law will be overturned. It appears the NCR is now simply a political tool. Well done.

Posted by Steven on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 5:34 PM (EST):

@Dee and Stephen: Both of you bravely stepped into the circle of the Catholic Right Wing version of the old circular firing squad. To greatly improve your chances of survival, request separate “executions.”

Posted by Dee on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 4:33 PM (EST):

@THERESE60640 and others who believe with her that “Democrats who support abortion, i.e., Planned Parenthood and Obama , yet crow that stupid social justice rag, are complete hypocrites. Admit it - you will go to any length to make sure abortion is available ‘just in case’... Shameful”

Where does that come from? I support Obama wholeheartedly on most things other than his stated support for abortion rights. It is a serious error, but he is not the first to hold it, nor is he Satan for doing so. I am anti-abortion in all cases except where the life (not health) of the mother is clearly at stake. My husband and I have taken a pregnant woman into our home, served on our parish Life ministry and supported other right-to-life causes, both anti-abortion (rosaries at the local clinic) and whole-life (Amnesty International campaigns against the death penalty). I was active in the last national election, on the democrat side, and never played down my anti-abortion stance nor the Faith from which is derives. It is the same Faith that led me to be active in politics and work for Obama’s election.

I accept the sincerity of the “troops” in the field who are fighting for the unborn - a cause which is a necessary but by no means sufficient part of the effort to embrace the Church’s pro-life message. Indeed the assumption of ill-will and nasty, skewed remarks that too often characterizes remarks of the self-identified Catholic anti-abortion movement fails the test of the Holy Spirit, that we will be known by our love. By his love, which I do not believe would hold the existing poor of this country hostage to the possibility of funds being diverted and used to kill the unborn. We might do well to remember that tax dollars, however designated, do not CAUSE a single abortion. It is always a decision made by a child of God and as such, amenable to prayer and persuasion. I believe that science itself, revealing God’s work through sonograms, has done more to reduce abortion than any campaign, though of those have been very useful as well, especially those that rely on respect for the human person (all) and the Holy Spirit (prayer).

Posted by leah on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 2:45 PM (EST):

Thank you for this article. I hadn’t heard anything about what’s going on in Indiana until I read this and I’m glad I did. Just another reason I’m not going to be voting for Obama again. Fool me once, shame on you but fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t know who I’ll vote for though.

Posted by Sharin' on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 1:01 PM (EST):

@BB, I appreciate your comments and yes, you are right we do not accomplish anything by name calling or pointing out someone’s perspective in a negative fashion. This is an emotional issue, and very hard not to lash back when someone disagrees. If somone does not respect life from conception, I feel they have little or no respect for anyone and it snowballs from there. The culture of death started in 1974 and with intervention from the Lord above will cease very soon. I pray for those people that are not able to see the big picture and believe that abortion is a woman’s choice.

Posted by BB on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 12:35 PM (EST):

Excellent succinct article - a skill I am aware that I lack. A terrifying thought and frankly it makes me sick, but I appreciate the clarity of analysis and point blank comparison made.

To those that are simply name calling and slinging derogatory words in these comments: please stop. It does not advance either cause nor does it enhance the appearance of your intellect or argument. If you have a legitimate point, whether you are pro-life or pro-planned parenthood [I refrain from saying pro-choice, b/c pro-lifers offer choices too and saying anti-life is just a mudsling] please present it, as I’m sure many here would be open to a healthy debate. Personally I love hearing both sides to see the whole picture and why people believe what they do, even though I stand by the pro-life argument.

I did not read all the comments, but many good points were brought up about it. It’s a shame that the money going to Planned Parenthood can’t simply be re-directed to medicaid, b/c I’m sure they are very far from equal amounts. I’m glad it’s not as high, but sad that Indiana is backed into a corner for protecting life. I wouldn’t want my tax dollars going it either. Why not put it towards health clinics for the poor? What’s so wrong with that Obama?! For shame!

I found it interesting that in Philadelphia, doctors actually went to court in an attempt to protect an unborn child, even though they were completely wrong in why or how. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5012918/ns/health-womens_health/t/what-are-mothers-rights-during-childbirth/
I think that is more to protect a doctor’s ego though, in that it appears they believe only their method could be right here, while considering the fact that they refused to weigh her history. What she requested was simply a natural delivery - not to intentionally harm the child. Thankfully she was able to do just that, which is healthier for both when it is actually feasible. I realize it is a whole different argument and that may irritate some here, but I thought it was interesting that one finally hears in the news of a doctor going to the courts to protect the unborn, but it’s based on the wrong reasons, since he had a poorly built analysis.

I don’t feel rights should ever be taken away. Keeping in mind, both mother and child have rights. Those who still say the mother’s right comes first, well I’d say that I do not wish to involuntarily be forced to fund your choice to take away the child’s rights. I remain open to reading perspectives on this post, but continue to encourage clear perspectives and not pointless name calling at each poster, which sink your case.

Posted by guy mcclung on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 12:08 PM (EST):

All of these comments point to one thing: a Catholic with a well formed conscience cannot vote for a Democrat. The liberals of the USCCB are as we speak formulating the 2012 pre-election propaganda document that will be written so that it can be misinterpreted or twisted to mean that a Catholic can vote for DDICO [Death Dealer In Chief Obama] and for Democrats. Pray that ArchB Dolan does not let such a thing be promulgated this time around and that true shepherds around the country tell the faithful “you cannot in good conscience vote for a Democrat.” For the “tu quoque” folks - this does NOT mean you must then vote for a GOP candidate!

Posted by JMJ on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 11:29 AM (EST):

Thanks to Matt & GHU; they both know what they are talking about. How much is one life worth? More than enough for Jesus to die on the Cross for us!! It is past the time to take away the “not for profit” status of Hitler’s “planned parenthood” and to eliminate Title X. and time for ALL of us to pray the Rosary not only to stop abortion, but also to stop “sex education” and birth control and for Bishop Dolan to lead the Bishops back to God and HIS Church. Come Holy Spirit, come, Amen. +JMJ+

Posted by Joe on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 9:33 AM (EST):

Is Planned Parenthood entitled to taxpayer money? Think about it, the federal government is forcing a state to send taxpayer money to a private entity. this is criminal! It is as illegal as sending 1.4 trillion to the IMF for other countries use, and to bail out failed private companies!!! These people are not listening to the constituants (us), but using us. I’m sorry if this hurts, but it must all come down. there is no way of getting our government to come back to reality. It is now too many decades of deceit to get rid of the rats that keep eating us.

Posted by RLJ on Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011 6:13 AM (EST):

Here’s where we are at this moment:
http://www.indystar.com/article/20110607/NEWS05/106070328/State-offers-way-keep-Medicaid-funds?odyssey=nav|head

Posted by AroostookGeorge on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:02 PM (EST):

@Liz: That mentality when it comes to contraception has gotten our culture where it tries to separate sex from the conclusion, children. Why does the choice always have to be evil and the lesser evil? Isn’t there ever a good choice? Will there always be teenage pregnancy, yes, but we as a society can make it the exception, not the norm. Those low income girls as you put it, need to hear from society that they were created in the image of God and their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, rather than hearing “since premarital sex is inevitable you might as well use a condom”.

Posted by WD on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 8:28 PM (EST):

For all of those folks arguing that contraception lowers the abortion rate, you obviously have not checked your facts. Contraception rates and abortion rates positively correlate to one another. A couple of cases in point:

In China, contraception is mandated. But so is abortion when contraception fails (and all contraceptive methods have a failure rate) or if the unborn Chinese happens to be of the wrong sex or somehow deemed inferior.

In the US, widespread use of contraception hasn’t stopped abortion rates from exceeding 1 in 5 pregnancies. Furthermore, the abortion statistics never include the children lost due to the abortifacient effects of the pill.

The psychological effect of contraception is to commodify a child. Abortion is merely an extension of this psychology.

Posted by richard on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 7:56 PM (EST):

Indiana, remain steadfast in the battle. There are a lot of us watching.

Posted by Sue from Buffalo on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 7:55 PM (EST):

I think we should follow the money. I honestly don’t know the answer to this question so I’ll just throw it out there for you folks.

Does Planned Parenthood give money to the Democratic Party?

Thanks.
Sue

Posted by Veronica on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 6:03 PM (EST):

Also, your analogy is terrible and does not describe the situation at all. By defunding planned parenthood, Indiana broke federal law that is older than the Obama administration. If we are to follow THE LAW then Indiana has to lose their medicaid funding. It is also not like the Obama administration has only threatened to stop Medicaid because they do not support planned parenthood. When Arizona froze their child healthcare program the administration told them it was in violation of medicaid law and threatened to pull funding.

Posted by Veronica on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 5:48 PM (EST):

I just wanted to say something about this idea of “profit” and Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is legally a non-profit, however, this does not mean that they do not make any profit (many non-profits do make a profit). It is a tax status that is taken VERY seriously (especially for an organization as big/controversial as Planned Parenthood) by the IRS and basically declares that any profit made after overhead costs must be used to provide more services. Whatever profit planned parenthood receives is only used to provide more low cost services to Women. Stop acting like these people are some greedy fat cats trying to earn as much money as they can to buy Mercedes and mansions. They are not. The money that they make is only used to support more medical services.

Posted by interesting article on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 5:47 PM (EST):

Excellent article. It’s what I’d expect from this guy. He has lost his popularity and may be on his way out. Other 2012 candidates could be extremely strong in this upcoming election. It will not be like the last one. J.A. - you write excellent articles. Indiana should not buckle. The rest of the states need to pay attention and follow this leader. I am impressed!

Posted by Jay Anderson on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 5:16 PM (EST):

See, tu quoque is all they got. Pathetic.

Posted by Steven on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 5:04 PM (EST):

The GOP has a mirror “idea,” too. Scrap the safety net for our elderly thus forcing them back on their adult children who are having enough difficulty trying to make ends meet and keep the roof over their heads, or we’ll toss the ENTIRE WORLD ECONOMY UNDER THE CHINESE RAPID RAIL TRAIN ZOOMING FROM BEIJING TO SHANGHAI.
BTW ... While President Obama’s track record on abortion could sure use a major turn around, it wasn’t he who pushed for huge cuts in WIC, and other important nutrition and early childhood education programs.
Besides, who the hell actually runs the GOP, their chairman, Reince something or another from Wisconsin?, Mitch aka “Mumbles” MacConnell or Mistah Speakah John “Boo Hoo” Boehner, the Brothers Koch, Dick Armey, Paul Ryan, Roger Ailes . . . or, Grover Norquist who never saw a government program he couldn’t wait to drown in a bathtub?
A lot of these people will scream out loud their fealty to the Prolife Cause, but when push, or piles of campaign cash coming their way from big corporations that could care less about abortion one way or another, get their attention, it’ll be the unborn babies who’ll really get the push, and not in the direction you’re hoping for.

Posted by THERESE60640 on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 4:01 PM (EST):

So, Liz - let’s just kill the child and save it from a life that you decree will be miserable?!?!

Posted by sf on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:57 PM (EST):

Just remember, those on the left lack original thought. It’s just a never ending stream of cliches and talking points. They just can’t be bothered.

Posted by Liz on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:56 PM (EST):

For those of you saying that you shouldn’t have to pay to fund abortions, you’re not. All abortion services provided by Planned Parenthood are privately funded. They don’t get a dime of your taxes to fund abortions. If this law doesn’t pass, they WILL get some of your money to provide the other health services that they provide, and I find it very difficult to find fault with providing gynecological exams, counseling, information and contraception. I know that, under Catholic doctrine, contraception is a sin, but I think it’s a lesser evil than not providing it. No contraception for those who can’t properly support a child means more abortions. Which would you prefer? Someone using a rubber or someone “killing a baby,” as you put it? Low income girls can’t support a child. More often than not, they can barely support themselves. You would want a child born into those conditions? What kind of life is that? I recommend you look inside your heart and find some compassion for those who struggle every day rather than saying that having a child “should be the greatest accomplishment of their life.”

Posted by THERESE60640 on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:52 PM (EST):

Dee - While it is totally possible - and common - that Pro-life people support their local charities and are against the death penalty and unjust wars, DEMOCRATS AND LEFT-leaning social justice types can’t allow the most innocent of all victims to live. QUIT THE HYPOCRISY!!!! Democrats who support abortion, i.e., Planned Parenthood and Obama , yet crow that stupid social justice rag, are complete hypocrites.
Admit it - you will go to any length to make sure abortion is available “just in case”... Shameful.

Posted by mk on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:45 PM (EST):

. No, WE are expected to care for the poor through our own actions.

AMEN !!!!!

Posted by scragsma on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:23 PM (EST):

@Dee - Yes, Jesus did urge, even require, concern for the poor as a sign of sincerity from His followers. On the other hand, He did NOT stipulate the government as the mediator of our care for the poor. It’s no merit to pay taxes and let some bureaucrat(s) decide who the money should go to. No, WE are expected to care for the poor through our own actions.

Posted by Magdalene on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 3:22 PM (EST):

Planned parenthood gets most of its profits from the hired killing of the unborn. Former directors admit this. And they give our low dose birth control and cheap condoms so that pregnancies and abortions occur. Take a look at the trailer of BLOOD MONEY for a clue about this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYaTywSDmls

Abortion is barbaric! Look up on the internet on the procedure where the little people are literally torn limb from limb. The physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to women is incalcuable. We are speaking about the death of innocent human beings. Yes, the wages of sin is death.

These killings are done in the name of “freedom” or “privacy”. Do I have a right to kill you if you are inconvenient for my pleasures to continue?

Posted by Mary De Voe on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 2:25 PM (EST):

“We hold these truths to be SELF-EVIDENT; that all men are created equal and endowed by our OUR, our, yours, mine and ours, Creator with Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To give our tax dollars to an entity that does not respect our founding truths is cheating and stealing from our great nation.
A parable: “During the night an evildoer came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” Margaret Sanger, founder of planned parenthood called the children of the poor: “USELESS EATERS” and “HUMAN WEEDS”
Evildoers are defining God’s gift of human life, charity, and demanding tribute to the devil in tax money and human sacrifice, money and sacrifice that is not theirs to give, take or offer up or down depending upon which devil is being honored in this law. (Taxation without representation. Defining tribute to the devil in human sacrifice as tax law and the establishment of the worship of the devil as freedom of religion, religion being man’s response to God’s gift of Faith.) Margaret Sanger ought to have been pursued in a court of law for slander and violating the common good, but Hitler was coming into power in Germany. Hitler needed Sangers’ eugenics policies. Human sacrifice is the final solution here on earth and the worship of the devil in the world to come. Speaking of “human weeds”, Sanger and Obama pay tribute to the devil and are devil worshippers,and Pelosi, and have repudiated their citizenship in one nation under God.

Posted by Chris on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 2:14 PM (EST):

@ Dee- Really? Supporting the poor in the United States is not committed to charity alone. Did you read my whole post?
I am not sure that I can make it clearer. If my comments were ambiguous I ask your forgiveness.
God love you.

Posted by Jay Anderson on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 2:01 PM (EST):

To answer Chris’ question about whether it is accurate to say that the trillions spent at the federal level and billions spent at the state and local level can truly be said not to serve the poor, Dee pulls out a quote from an encyclical about lawmakers wanting charity alone to be the sole source of support for the poor. Seems inapt to me, since that is NOT what is happening and few, if any, lawmakers are advocating such a state of affairs.

On the other hand, one wonders if Dee is as equally likely to quote to her Democrat allies from Humanae Vitae, Vetitatis Splendor, or Evangelium Vitae on the MUCH more apt point of lawmaker support of legalized abortion on demand.

Seriously. It is beyond comprehension to me that fiscal and budgetary differences in a $3 trillion federal budget are given a higher priority than the basic right to life of the unborn. And, again, as the main point of Matt’s piece shows, it is the Democrats who are willing to hide behind the impoverished as human shields in furtherance of their abortion agenda.

Posted by Dee on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:43 PM (EST):

@Chris - “Many in the Social Justice Catholic Leftist camp conflate government spending with compassion and tell us it is what Jesus would do…You can’t fulfill Matthew 25:31-46 by having the government spend more money.”

Encyclical QUADRAGESIMO ANNO, Pope Piux XI

“4. Quite agreeable, of course, was this state of things to those who thought it in their abundant riches the result of inevitable economic laws and accordingly, as if it were for charity to veil the violation of justice which lawmakers not only tolerated but at times sanctioned, wanted the whole care of supporting the poor committed to charity alone.”

Posted by Scott on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:20 PM (EST):

Ah yes, the party of death and dirty tricks strikes again protecting their fellow murderers. Indiana is standing for what is good and righteous and the libs in this country just cannot stand it. And of course they go on the offensive and begin their unrelenting attacks.

The latest Gallup poll indicated that a little over 60% of Americans think abortion is wrong. Stand firm Indiana!

Posted by Gen JP2 on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:13 PM (EST):

Stand firm Indiana. Don’t wimp out!!! How dare Obama pull such a stunt! He has absolutely no right to do that. I believe in 2012 people who are blinded by Obama’s charm will find out how in the minority they are. The Republicans aren’t doing the drastic changes to our nation, it’s the socialist democrats trying to destroy our nation and take away our freedom to create a marxist socialist state. Planned parenthood makes enough money from murder and the Susan G Koman Foundation, and other places that they don’t need any money from the government to continue operating.

Posted by guy mcclung on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:05 PM (EST):

Abortion as we know it in the USA will end..because Pro-Life folks and the Pro-Life movement have the Truth on their side and the “Truth” is not a theoretical idea, the Truth is a Person, Jesus Christ, God Almighty. It is not a question of “if”, but “when”. No matter what the Party of Death [democrats], Obama - Head death dealer, Planned Parenthood, and the complicit liberal media do…they will lose. Truth will triumph - in Indiana and across the USA.

Posted by Chris on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 12:35 PM (EST):

@Dee- Are you really trying to tell us that a 2011 federal budget of $3.69 trillion is not enough and that it doesn’t serve the poor? Not to mention the additional billions that gets spent at the state and local level. Half of the country does not even pay federal taxes. In fact, many including myself, got money back in the form of the earned income credit. I am now getting Pell grants and federally back school loans to finish school, my family is on food stamps, and we are receiving Medicaid through my state in AZ. I thank God every day that these services are available. But I know that it is other people, even you perhaps, that are paying these bills. I thank all of you that are paying your taxes and I am grateful for these funds. By the end of this year I will be done with school and get back to being a productive and contributing citizen.
Having said that do you really think that I should be paying no taxes? It is not immoral that people make more money than me. My joy comes from the Lord! Not by being envious of others wealth. It is immoral that the system we have set up is designed to keep people unproductive and contributing. St. Paul tells us in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-16 that work is what we should be doing. He specifically tells us that if someone is unwilling to work that that person should not eat. We don’t do that! We spend untold amounts of money in very unproductive ways and we people such as yourself tell us it is not enough.
Spending more money is not the answer to helping the poor. You can’t fulfill Matthew 25:31-46 by having the government spend more money. We as individuals have to get off our butts and go and feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, cloth the naked, take care of the sick, and visit the imprisoned. Many in the Social Justice Catholic Leftist camp conflate government spending with compassion and tell us it is what Jesus would do. Funding abortion is not compassion.
Radicals are always trying to tell others what to do and if we are unwilling then they try to get the force of the government to do their bidding. Secular Humanism is what is destroying this world. Look outside of yourself and look to the Church that Jesus Christ commissioned.
Jesus tells us in Mark 14:7 and Matthew 26:11 that the poor will always be with us. Help those in need, pray the Rosary, spend time in Adoration, go to Mass often, read the bible and the Catechism, read the Doctors of the church and the Saints, and go deep into your Faith. Be Christ to the world.
May the Lord bless us and keep us, make His face to shine upon us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen!

Posted by Jay Anderson on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 12:17 PM (EST):

Dee wrote: “I guess I associate the “Catholic” Right with Republicans because many seem to pop up in Republican forums. When folks consistently bash only the Democrats, they may not give a rats !@#$% about the Republicans but they are helping them anyway.”

Oh, c’mon, Dee. Cut the crap. The so-called “Catholic right” bashes the Republicans plenty. I’ve seen Matt Archbold do it consistently. I’ve seen Pat Archbold do it consistently (in fact, Pat wrote a piece last week questioning whether he could be pro-life and still be a Republican). What I virtually NEVER see is the Catholic left bashing the Democrat Party. When Democrats go to war, there’s the Catholic left to defend them. When Democrats support the death penalty, not a peep heard from the Catholic left. When Democrats cozy up to Wall Street, it’s called “prosperity” (as opposed to “greed” when Republicans do it). When Republicans fall short in their defense of the unborn, the Catholic left is there to harp on it and gloat about it, but will utter nary a word against the Democrats’ lust for abortion on demand during all 9 months of pregnancy. The Catholic left is just as guilty as the Democrats in this regard in treating the impoverished as human shields whenever the topic of abortion comes up.

Face it - the Democrats have no more loyal and faithful shills to give them cover than the Catholic left. Meanwhile, the so-called “Catholic right” will turn on the Republicans in a heartbeat when the GOP falls short on life issues. In fact, to the extent there is even such thing as a so-called “Catholic right”, it is BECAUSE of abortion. It is the Democrats themselves who are responsible for the creation of the so-called “Catholic right” because of the Democrats’ embrace of abortion.

So, spare me the “bashing Democrats only helps the Republicans” lament. Whose fault is that? It’s the fault of the party supporting abortion on demand, as well as the Catholics whose misplaced allegiance to a political party lead them to consistently overlook and forgive the unforgivable. It’s certainly not the fault of the so-called “Catholic right” who consistently call out the Democrats on abortion.

Posted by Cathy on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 12:10 PM (EST):

Is it possible that, if the federal government withholds medicare funding, that Indiana can stop forcing its citizen to pay the federal tax for medicare? By the way, in as much as I do not believe that abortion is health care, I do not believe that providing birth control is health care. I do not understand why we are forced to pay to provide, under the guise of “health care” a known carcinogen to healthy young women, and call it health care. I don’t understand why any doctor would think it is right to provide it. Both parties have their share of advocates in the culture of death. In as much as advocates of abortion have stated that morality cannot be imposed, they have, as much, made it perfectly clear that it can be deposed by requiring mandatory funding of an institution that the people of the country consider immoral. Where said institution has failed to rob the child of its life, it has entered the classroom to rob the child of innocence. Perhaps the question we ought to ask is, if Planned Parenthood is just a clinic, why is it so important to the current administration?

Posted by Sharin' on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:49 AM (EST):

@Mary, Clueless…absolutely clueless these people are that back Obama and his culture of death….it’s just stupid argument…don’t use my hard earned money to take away a life given by God…I support the culture of life!

Posted by calling for some common sense on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:45 AM (EST):

The item that people should focus on in calling their Representatives and demanding the defunding of Planned Parenthood is the fact that PP makes a HUGE profit, they do NOT NEED taxpayer funds:

“In April, the annual report of Planned Parenthood Federation of America revealed that the abortion giant had a total income of $1.02 billion—with reported profits of nearly $115 million. Taxpayers kick in more than $336 million worth of government grants and contracts at both the state and federal levels. That’s a third of Planned Parenthood’s budget.”

Any business making $115 million doesn’t need the government to fund them. That is something your elected officials can stand on without bringing into this any moral argument - we’re facing federal and state government shut-downs due to insane deficits and anyone making $115 million in profit doesn’t need a cent from taxpayers. Period.

It doesn’t matter if your Representative is a Democrat or Rupublican, call and tell them PP is making millions and doesn’t need taxpayer funds & demand they put an end to subsidizing a company making $115 million.

And from another site, some good stats:

•In 2007, Planned Parenthood performed 305,310 abortions and just 4,912 adoption referrals. (that’s less than 2% of babies whose mothers enter the door of a Planned Parenthood clinic will ever be born)

(And remember that Eugenics movement behind PP and their exposed desire to abort African American babies. Where is the outrage from our Black President? And why is he supporting a company that works to kill Black people?)

Threatening to cut services to the poor to support Planned Parenthood is a bullying tactic. I’m so sick of bullies everywhere! It’s a shame that the president can’t get traction for his supporters in a better way than playing the “I’ll get you back” game.

Posted by GHU on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:19 AM (EST):

Thank you Mr Archbold for explaining what’s actually going on in Indiana and this country. Remember when Obama & Reid said they would shut the government down before they would defund Planned Parenthood? It’s time the USCCB and all Catholics wake up. The Democratic Party is NOT the same as we’ve been told over the years. I was a Democrat until I woke up to some hard facts: the DNC has been taken over by the extreme anti-life, anti-traditonal family, anti-religion groups….PERIOD! Although Republicans are far from perfect, I would support them before I would support ANY Democrat, and Mr Archbold is very correct in calling them the Party of Death! Someone said that Republicans support the death penalty and war….well here’s some facts: we’ve gone to more wars under Democrat presidents and the death penalty and war are NOT intrinsic evils unlike abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, embryonic stem cell research and gay “marriage” (which are all supported by the DNC).

I’m sick of people telling me that Planned Parenthood helps poor women when they are actually all about making $$$, brainwashing our children with their perverted “sex education ” programs, destroying women and killing babies. Remember Susan G Komen giving grants to PP because they do mammograms???...Well PP does not do any mammograms! WAKE UP CATHOLICS! Thank you Mr. Archbold.

Posted by Jonathan on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:19 AM (EST):

@Dee- so, I guess when PBXVI makes a direct statement like, “When political positions openly or covertly include plans to decriminalize abortion and euthanasia, the democratic ideal—which is truly democratic only when it acknowledges and safeguards the dignity of every human person—is betrayed at its foundations” (October 28, 2010), he doesn’t mean what he says? Or that the CCC is wrong from 2270 through 2273?
Was Pope Pius XII wrong when he stated, “The State then, should, as it were, in virtue of the instinct of self-preservation, fulfill that which, essentially according to the design of God, Creator and Savior, is its first duty, namely guarantee in full measure the values which ensure to the family order, human dignity, health and happiness. These values, which are also the very elements of the common good, may never be sacrificed for what may apparently be the common advantage. Let Us point out, as an example, some of these benefits which are greatly threatened today - the indissolubility of matrimony; the protection of prenatal life”?

How can you read these statements made by the Vicar of Christ or proclaimed by the Magisterium and say that the so-called “Catholic Right” is estranged from the truth? To say that the Church does not hold that the right to life is the foremost fundamental right and the foundation of a free and democratic society is to stick your head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the moral authority of the Church. Your comment is foolish and apparently borne out of sheer ignorance, pure and simple.

Posted by Bill Q on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 11:13 AM (EST):

It is utterly fascinating to me that the same people who say we SHOULD donate to Planned Parenthood because of all the medical testing is does (not to mention it’s efforts to provide poor people with equal access to “safe” fornication) aren’t up in arms over Obama’s threat. If denying funds to PP because it aborts babies is wrong, how is denying funding to a state because it denies funding to a baby-aborting organization OK? As far as the fact that federal dollars aren’t specifically used to perform PP’s abortions goes, it’s irrelevant. The money the government provides for PP’s other services makes the organization’s other funds available to perform abortions. If a wino has $5 he can spend on booze or food, and I give him $5 more earmarked specifically for food, haven’t I just made his other $5 available for booze?

Posted by Kell on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:55 AM (EST):

I agree with Rachel’s post. PP isn’t the answer for “health” services. There is no reason that a privet company should be getting tax payer money for any reason. The federal government needs to stay out of the state government’s business. If a state decided to no longer fund a privet company, then it should be up to the individual states; and in every other case it is. Because we are talking about PP it becomes a federal level argument? It just proves that the federal government is too big, and has too much power over the day to day lives of the citizens that they claim to represent.

Posted by Dee on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:44 AM (EST):

@Jay - I agree the “Oh yeah, well you, too” is a very weak. So is the use of cheap, emotionally charged language. I guess I associate the “Catholic” Right with Republicans because many seem to pop up in Republican forums. When folks consistently bash only the Democrats, they may not give a rats ass about the Republicans but they are helping them anyway. Kind of illustrates my point about the masses of those on the Right being played like fiddles by politicians who would limit the pro-Life message to the politics of abortion. The survival of a few fetuses doesn’t cost them much, especially not in return for keeping their tax cuts while the deficit is reduced at the expense of the care of the poor Jesus says should be our priority.

Posted by Felix Culpa on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:43 AM (EST):

@MPAT was my direct comment to insensitive?

Posted by OldGuy on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:41 AM (EST):

@MPat Sorry no…the comments from @Mary were so ignorant and using subtleties to tell her so are not necessary…she isn’t listening anyway.

Posted by Kory on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:38 AM (EST):

I’m not a Republican; I think both of our major political parties are the party of money. There may well be true-blue pro-lifers who operate under the banner of either party, but that’s not what either party is “about,” in my opinion.
Appealing to the Hyde Amendment as a safeguard is naive at best. It’s similar to giving your teenager $100 and telling him/her to spend it on car insurance, not beer. Naturally, he/she does as told, then spends the money he/she had saved to pay for insurance to throw a party for his/her friends.
I pray for Kathleen Sebelius; she was the governor of the state where I live, and consistently sided with pro-abortion interests (even throwing a party where the late Dr. Tiller was a guest).
Any doubts about the intentions of our president can be laid to rest by viewing this (in)famous video clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf0XIRZSTt8&feature=related

Catholics, please wake up; stop saying tit-for-tat hateful things to each other and start praying for an end to abortion and the culture of death.

Posted by Jay Anderson on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 10:30 AM (EST):

Notice how the Democrat apologists can’t make an argument without resorting to “Oh yeah, well you, too!” It seems to never occur to them that their interlocutors might not even be or give a rat’s patoot about the Republicans; no, they just lauch right into “Oh yeah, well the Republicans ...” I suppose tu quoque is really all they have. If I placed my allegiance in a party that makes abortion on demand throughout all 9 months of pregnancy and even up to, during, and (in the case of our President) after birth, I think I’d want to change the subject as well.

Posted by Stephen on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 9:44 AM (EST):

I disagree with calling the Democrati party the party of death.The Republican party supports the Death Penalty,torture,wars all over the globe and opresses the poor at any opportunity as well as perpetuating the WASP oppression of Catholics in society.

Posted by Rachel on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 9:35 AM (EST):

Anyone who needs access to low cost and/or free birth control can get it - without Planned Parenthood. Just go to your local health department where you will see baskets of free condoms and information on chemical/surgical birth control. They also have information on free/discounted health exams, cancer screenings, immunizations, etc. All of which is already tax-payer supported. I know, I’ve been there and my dh used to work next to one.

The big difference - local health departments do not provide abortions and making tax payers help fund PP is much like double-dipping. I’m already paying for the Health Department which is its own moral issue but I am not an active participant in the death of a baby which occurs with every cent I am forced to give to fund PP.

Any argument that PP is only source of help for the poor is as full of holes as is the DNC’s tagline that they care for everyone - they don’t.

Posted by Cindy on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 9:29 AM (EST):

Correct me if I am wrong, but dose not Planned Parenthood have Bill Gates and Warren Buffet funding them? We can beat the ‘money’, we just have to stand together and save the children!

Posted by Dee on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 9:04 AM (EST):

The “Catholic” Right in America is estranged from the heart of Truth - both scientific and Gospel - and, indeed, from the Church at large. Their allegiance is rather to a materialistic philosophy that serves the ambitions of the new crop of Ayn Rand libertarians posing as Tea Party Republicans. I doubt this is intentional on the part of many but that does not stop them from being ill used by those who would disavow the Church’s magisterial teachings on social justice from RERUM NOVARUM, the 1891 “ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON CAPITAL AND LABOR” onward. They are sheep led astray by an argument that says nothing is more important than stopping legal abortion (while their manipulators make sure this will never happen - it gives them a super herding mechanism.) All the kinds of Christ-driven legislation concerning the poor is put safely out of reach. It’s not that they are unwilling to do what Jesus said, it’s just they cannot do that before they save the unborn. Perfect - that will keep them chasing their tales while the libertarian dog-eat-dog dream unfolds in real life. I think you could read great swaths of Rerum Novarum without attribution, to American Catholics and many would think it the work of the radical Left. Matthew Archbold’s childish characterizations (the Party of Death, Kill Babies or else…) is typical of the “don’t confuse-me-with-the-facts” mindset of those co-opted by the radical Right or Left.

It is a sad reflection on the Church in this country that many American bishops have not acted strongly enough to address this fundamental ignorance but like many Republicans have been cowed by the loud minority that claims to speak for “We the People”, absurd as that sounds. Satan has gotten a lot of mileage out of abortion as a wedge issue, convincing many Catholics they can’t chew gum and walk at the same time, so easily disarming them. It is time we take another look at John 4:20 and put our efforts to eliminate abortion in a Gospel context. Catholics should be at the service of Christ and no other.

Posted by MPat on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 9:04 AM (EST):

Please tell me that Felix and Old Guy are PP supporters playing at being pro-life Christians just to make pro-lifers look bad.

Posted by OldGuy on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 8:56 AM (EST):

@Mary I agree with Felix you are a ignorant liar…any support of obama and the democrats is intrinsically evil and you have no part in Salvation history…because you deny Christ.

Posted by Felix Culpa on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 8:49 AM (EST):

@Mary you so stupid…I actually surprised you can read.

Posted by mk on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 8:49 AM (EST):

Jacobitess,

lol…I was thinking the same thing. Reading Traylors post was a little like reading those Japanese instructions that come with kids toys…I have absolutely no idea what he just said. He’s right about one thing…he got me off my a**..as in laughing my a** off…

Traylor,

Try saying that whole thing in ENGLISH!

Posted by Itstheorientation on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 8:48 AM (EST):

Isn’t it great at the “NATIONAL CATHOLIC” Register to find defenders of baby murder. One even thinks that baby murder is what the U.S. is all about (w/53 million babies killed in the U.S. since 1973 can’t say they’re wrong). Listen, send your entire pay check to Planned Parenthood if you want to, but don’t force me to fund an organization that murders babies - that is in fact the biggest baby murdering company in the U.S. Imagine if Sebellius, Keehan, or Obama were trying to fund the murder of baby seals or even fund the destruction of some plant life w/oil development…

Archbold, don’t write for the company of sinners and scoffers..

Posted by Jacobitess on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 5:03 AM (EST):

@ Traylor: I read your comment once, then twice, and then I realized, you have NO point! Really, without any anger (just bewilderment) I am just saying that you make *no* argument in that post, just a statement of your own opinion and a premature gloat. Is that what you mean by ‘discipline’, i.e. no logic? Bad rhetoric? Leftist snobbishness? Inexplicable ability to prophesy?

Urgh, not engaging in argument and merely insulting the article’s writer does not make you look like you know something; it makes you look like a poser. Try again.

Posted by Thomas J. Traylor on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:37 AM (EST):

Mr. Matthew Archbold,
You are such a republican. You and your kind are trying to legislate fundamental changes to what this country is about. The American people are beginning to realize what you “people” are doing… And you are your “prople” will find out, come 2012, that you are on the wrong side of history.

Wow this really took some discipline from me to really go off your asses.

Tom

Posted by Laura on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 1:30 AM (EST):

We need to pray for Indiana’s authorities

Posted by Martin on Monday, Jun 6, 2011 12:25 AM (EST):

@Mary & AroostookGeorge: PP counts abortion as 3% of their services, but they never admit what percentage of their clients receive abortions. This number is obviously much, much higher than 3%. Undoubtedly, they provide multiple services to each patient. If each patient who receives an abortion also receives 1. “counseling”, 2. a breast exam, 3. a pelvic exam, 4. STD screening, 5. contraceptives, and 6. an abortion, PP can claim that only 16% of their services was an abortion. In this scenario, if 100% of PP patients had an abortion, their “abortion services” would count for only 16%.

It’s all how you count the denominator.

Posted by A on Sunday, Jun 5, 2011 11:55 PM (EST):

@Mary: So… I don’t get it. Even if, in your mind, Planned Parenthood is mainly about providing health services for low income women, what does that have to do with whether we ought to be forced to fund them? Why not rather be forced to fund Pregnancy Care Centers? Or regular health clinics? Or hospitals? What is so special about Planned Parenthood that Indiana gets a gun held to their head for diverting funds elsewhere?

Posted by AroostookGeorge on Sunday, Jun 5, 2011 11:38 PM (EST):

@Mary: I could fully imagine the consequences of shutting down planned parenthood, 300,000+ babies saved from the murder known as abortion. PP loves to brag that abortion is only 3% of their business but they conveniently forget to mention that it produces more than a third of their profits. They really are “helping” low income girls by charging them $400 or more to destroy what should be their greatest achievement in life, motherhood.

Posted by mary j brady on Sunday, Jun 5, 2011 10:42 PM (EST):

Planned parenthood is the means by which low income women obtain ree or low cost birth control, health screeings and testing. Abortion is a separate and small part of their services and by law, the hyde amendment, is NOT funded by taxes. Imagine the consequences of shutting down planned parenthood…my low income births and most definitely an increase in abortions…your facts are backwards…and by the way…the republican are the ones looking to disenfranchise medicare with the Paul Ryan plan…not Obama

Posted by Sara on Sunday, Jun 5, 2011 10:01 PM (EST):

Excellent article! Great analogy that is right on the spot.

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